SEBASTIAN, Florida (Wednesday, March 10, 2010)...The 2010 ASP North America Pro Junior Series is set to kickoff the first of eight events slated for the men’s calendar with the ASP Grade-3 Ron Jon SI Pro presented by Skullcandy and also marks the first of four women’s events with the ASP Grade-2 Skullcandy Junior Pro, with both events slated to hit the iconic break of Sebastian Inlet. The event holds a waiting period from March 11-14, 2010 and is currently expecting to run on the first two available days.
Evan Geiselman
The Ron Jon SI Pro and Skullcandy Junior Pro both offer up crucial ratings points on offer towards qualification for this year’s inaugural ASP World Junior Tour, where surfers earn the right to battle the globe’s hottest up-and-coming talent for the title of ASP World Junior Champion.
Dillon Perillo (Malibu, CA), 19, who is fresh off of competing in Australia at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships and the nation’s additional ASP Pro Junior events, enters the Ron Jon SI Pro as the event’s top seed and is setting his sights on a strong start to his regional campaign in hopes to qualify for this year’s ASP World Junior Tour.
“Competing at the World Juniors definitely gives me a little more confidence entering this season,” Perillo said. “It’s the hardest junior contest in the world and after competing in that, it gave me insight on how I should surf all my heats from now on.”
Perillo spends most of his time surfing near his home of Malibu, California, but after scouting out the upcoming forecast which predicts small surf at Sebastian Inlet, Perillo has been hunting for small waves to prepare for Ron Jon SI Pro.
“I've been to the inlet a couple times and both of those times it’s been really small so I've been surfing as many small waves during these two weeks that I've been home,” Perillo said.
After holding the ASP Pro Junior Series ratings lead throughout the entire 2009 season, Perillo saw the title slip away in the last event of the year after suffering a severe ankle injury and is now hungrier than ever to clinch the top regional ASP Pro Junior title.
“That was probably the worst thing that’s ever happened to me,” Perillo said. "I’m still recovering. It takes forever. I almost had the title last year so I'll try to do the same this year, sign up for all the events, and hopefully be healthy all year.”
Leading the women junior talent into the Skullcandy Junior Pro will be 2009 ASP North America Pro Junior Series Champion Malia Manuel (Wailua, HI), 16. Manuel will face California’s Kaleigh Gilchrist (Newport Beach, CA), 17, in her opening heat.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, California (Sunday, March 7, 2010)...Lethal goofy-footer Bobby Martinez (Santa Barbara, CA), 27, and progressive wunderkind Dane Reynolds (Ventura, CA), 24, started their 2010 ASP World Tour campaigns off in strong form with equal third place finishes this past week at the Quiksilver Pro presented by Land Rover which was hosted by one of the world’s most famed right-hand sand-bottom pointbreaks of Snapper Rocks.
Bobby Martinez
The ASP Dream Tour currently hosts the globe’s top 45 competitors as the staple field of full-time ASP World Tour talent, but after the fifth event on the 2010 calendar, the field will be sliced to a 32-man lineup, making Reynolds’ and Martinez’s impressive season opening starts that much more crucial to their outcome for this season.
Martinez was the last goofy-footer standing amongst the world’s best surfers, utilizing his impeccable backhand attack groomed by the flawless right-hand pointbreaks of his home town of Santa Barbara to dispatch of several international standouts including three-time ASP World Champion Andy Irons (Hanalei, HI), 31, and Australian Kai Otton (AUS), 30, before falling to eventual event winner Taj Burrow (AUS), 31.
"It's disappointing to finish when it's windy like this today," Martinez said. "We all want to surf when it's glassy, and I'm disappointed that we have to finish today. I did my best to mix it up out there, but it's very challenging out there on your backhand today."
Reynolds went on an absolute rampage throughout the middle rounds of the Quiksilver Pro, eliminating 2009 ASP World runner up and local Snapper Rocks hero Joel Parkinson (AUS), 28, and 2009 ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) Winner Dan Ross (AUS), 27, before falling to Jordy Smith (ZAF), 22, in their Semifinals matchup.
"I felt pretty good yesterday and it felt like my equipment was finally working," Reynolds said. "Even though the conditions weren't as good today, I thought I could catch an average wave and surf it well enough to get a good score, but that didn't happen. When the other guy gets a good roll going, it's hard to come back - or it is for me anyway."
Reynolds’ impressive start to the year also establishes the young California talent as a threat to the 2010 ASP World Title, but the talented regular-footer was guarded in announcing his intentions in regards to a charge for this year’s crown.
"I've never been in this situation before so it's hard for me to say (in regards to motivation for the ASP World Title)," Reynolds said. "When you're a little kid, everyone always tells you that the ASP World Title is the goal, but there's only one each season and 45 guys going for it. It hasn't been a goal for me yet."
The 2010 ASP World Tour season will continue at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach which holds a waiting period from March 30 through April 10, 2010.
