Kanoa Igarashi wint de DNA Energy Pro Junior

Kanoa Igarashi heeft zijn eertste Asp evenement gewonnen, hij pakte hierbij de eerste ASP-1 ster DNA Energy Pro Junior bij Huntington Beach gepresenteerd door Western Atlantic Surf. Igarashi won hierbij van: Daniel Glenn (New Smyrna Beach, FL), Evan Thompson (Jacksonville, FL) en Ryan Croteau (Newport Beach, CA).

Igarashi bracht een practige performance bij het DNA Energy Pro Junior, Igarashi was de tegenstanders steeds te slim af en pakte zijn eerste ASP overwinning. De jonge Californian was het hele evenement lang de nummer 1 door 5 van de 6 heats te winnen waaronder de finale.

“I couldn’t hear anything out there and we were all asking each other if we could here out there,” vertelde Igarashi. “This is the strongest wind I’ve ever felt in my life and it’s in a contest. It is what it is and I’m super stoked that I won.”

“I surf Huntington a lot and it’s windy too,” Aldus Igarashi. “It’s not this windy, but it’s a beachbreak like here and I get to practice in similar conditions and I had a great board for this event. I had no idea I was going to win this. I knew that I could, but before I came here I wasn’t feeling like I was going to win, I just wanted to do well and make some points. Once I made a lot of heats I put my head to it and started thinking I could do it. I started first round, so I just took that as a momentum builder.”

Daniel Glenn startte ook in ronde 1 en haalde ook de finale, maar behaalde helaas voor hem de 2e plaats.

“I knew I had one good wave and thought I had another, but it was hard to hear in the heat,” I started in Round 1 because I didn’t have a lot of points and Kanoa and I definitely surfed a lot of heats. We didn’t have the best conditions, but we made it work.”

Evan Thompson was ook erg gevaarlijk op de laatste dag van de DNA Energy Pro Junior competition, hij pakt de hoogste score van de dag, 8.00 (van de 10) en 15.83 (van de 20) in de halve finale, maar dat was niet goed genoeg om Igarashi te verslaan. Thompson finishte 3e en hoopt dit succes vast te kunnen houden tijdens de aankomende West Coast Vans Pro Junior later deze maand.

“I’m stoked to make another final, but it’s always a bummer when you make it that far in an event and don’t win,”  zei Thompson. “Hopefully I get a few more chances this year because I haven’t won one yet. It’s been my goal for a long time. I’m stoked I got third and it’s a confidence booster going into Huntington. That’s the main goal. This event has been such a good warm up and having it so close to my home, there was no reason for me not to go. It’s been a fun week.”

Ryan Croteau, die sinds kort van Florida naar Californië is verhuisd, had een geweldige performance tijdens het DNA Energy Pro Junior, door zijn eerste finale plek ooit te halen, hij werd 4e. Croteau hoopt ook om in zo’n goede vorm te blijven tijdens het volgende evenemet op de ASP North America Pro Junior kalender.

“I moved to California two years ago and it’s definitely helping my surfing,”  zei Croteau. “It feels good to make my first Final and it was so stormy and windy. I was getting longer waves, but I couldn’t nail a big maneuver and didn’t get the scores. I’m going to go home and train and get ready for the Vans Pier Classic later this month.”

De volgende stop op de 2012 ASP North America Pro Junior Series is de Vans Pro Junior gepresenteerd door Jack’s Surfboard, dit evenement zal gehouden worden van 28 maart tot en met 1 april 2012

DNA Energy Pro Junior Final Results:
1 – Kanoa Igarashi (USA) 13.94
2 – Daniel Glenn (USA) 12.84
3 – Evan Thompson (USA) 10.46
4 – Ryan Croteau (USA) 7.76