JARRAD SULLIVAN CLAIMS 33RD BYRON BAY EASTER CLASSIC IN MEMORY OF BEN KING
BYRON BAY EASTER CLASSIC
IN MEMORY OF BEN KING
Presented by THE GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL AND CORONA
MARCH 21ST, 22ND,& 23RD 2008
Byron Bay surfer Jarrad Sullivan today won the 33rd Byron Easter Classic, only narrowly defeating the form surfer of the event, 2006 Champion, Yerin Brown. Sullivan was the dark-horse of the event unassumingly progressing through his heats, before blowing up in the final, to defeat Brown by 15.53 points to 15.19. Sullivan put everything into every wave surfing on-edge with total commitment from his first wave in the final.
Yerin Brown was matching Sullivan wave for wave in the final, but Sullivan’s total commitment just pipped Brown who while surfing as on-edge as Sullivan fell on a few rides, which if he made the final manoeuvre would have made the result beyond doubt. Sullivan scored an 8.33 for his 3rd wave where he executed two ridiculous beyond vertical inverted fin-free re-entries, which had the crowd on the beach a gasp with the sheer commitment and explosive power in his turns. His second last wave of a score of 7.2 sealed the victory where executed a series of critical turns, leaving Brown to find a high-scoring wave of 7.67 to rest the final from Sullivan.
Brown searched for the wave, but could not find one in the final minutes. Brown, who convincingly won the Senior Men’s division only 40 minutes before the open final, tweaked his knee in the Senior final, but there was no sign of it in the open final Brown surfing with blinding speed and radicalness, showing the form which also saw him awarded the most radical and innovative manoeuvre, which commentators and those on the beach found hard to describe and define.
In an all Byron Bay final, super grommet and 2007 U/16 ISA World Champion, Garrett Parkes picked up 3rd place, with Corey Garcia 4th plus the highest scoring wave of the event (9.5 points) in his semi-final. Parkes also placed 3rd in the Junior final as well.
Damien Chadouy from Reunion island won the juniors division
The Junior division was won by Damien Chadouy of the Reunion Islands, Kirra surfer Jack Freestone 2nd, Parkes 3rd, Jason Jamieson (Cabarita) 4th. 9 divisions were contested, with the level of surfing way in each division way above the levels of previous years.
Maddi King, Daughter of Ben King placed 2nd in the Junior girls final, both son Kurt and Daughter Maddi performing well in an event dedicated to there father who passed away suddenly in 2006. The event was held in solid metre to metre and a half solid beach breaks at Broken Head, high performance surfing from the under 12’s to the over 50’s, with entrants travelling from as far north as the Sunshine Coast to as far south a Sydney.
RESULTS
OPEN MEN
1ST JARRAD SULLIVAN
2ND YERIN BROWN
3RD GARRETT PARKES
4TH COREY GARCIA
JUNIOR MEN
1ST DAMIEN CHADOUY
2ND JACK FREESTONE
3RD GARRETT PARKES
4TH JASON JAMESON
SENIOR MEN
1ST YERIN BROWN
2ND MARK RICHARDSON
3RD ANTHONY MIKELIEDES
4TH SHANE LAWSON
MASTERS FINAL
1ST DAVE SPARRENBERG
2ND MARK TRAUNCNIKS
3RD MAX PEROT
4TH NICK PEARSON
WOMENS FINAL
1ST KIRSTY SHAW
2ND CARLY SMITH
3RD STEPH SLALLIS
4TH EBONY LAIRD
JUNIOR WOMEN
1ST CODY KLEIN
2ND MADDI KING
3RD STEPHANIE SINGLE
4TH KELLY DELANG
CADET FINAL
1ST DAMO NORMAN (CABARITA)
2ND SOL BAILEY (BYRON BAY)
3RD JACKSON O’DONNELL
4TH TOMMY BOUCAUT (BYRON BAY)
FLEAS
1ST JAMES YOUNG
2ND BLAINE ROBINSON
3RD COREY FLANAGAN
4TH SCOTT KERR JUNIOR
5TH DYLAN TOTTEN
LEGENDS
1ST NEIL CAMERON
2ND PAUL O’DONNELLL
3RD JOHN SKINNER
4TH CHRIS BOURKE
5TH GORDON BARNES
And what does this shot have to do with the contest…..Not much I just think its a great shot from the day …..
