Billabong Junior Series at Seals

© Billabong SA

The 19th annual Billabong Junior Series champions were crowned at Seal Point in Cape St Francis after the second and final event in 2016 series was completed in highly contestable one metre waves and a stiff onshore breeze on Sunday.

Adin Masencamp (Strand) and Sophie Bell (Salt Rock) clinched the coveted U18 boys’ and girls’ Billabong Junior Series titles. The pair also topped the World Surf League (WSL) regional rankings lists and were crowned 2016 WSL Africa Junior champions.

The U16 boys’ and girls’ series titles were won by Max Elkington (Kommetjie), who was the only surfer across all divisions to win both the Ballito and Seal Point events, and Kai Woolf (Jeffreys Bay), who accumulated the same total as Bell over the two events, but won the title after a count-back.

Durbanites dominated the younger divisions with Tide-lee Ireland and newcomer S’Nenhlanhla Makhubu claiming the U14 series titles and Luke Thompson is the 2016 U12 boys’ series champion.

Masencamp secured both his titles after posting a phenomenal 17.93 heat total, including a near-perfect 9.33, in his semi-final victory over Ford van Jaarsveldt (Kommetjie). Masencamp went on to fall on two of his three rides in the final, finishing runner-up to 16 year-old Sebastian Williams (Durban), but his second place in the event was enough to earn the series crown and to overtake Jordy Maree (Kommetjie) on the WSL Africa Junior rankings.

Williams won his first WSL sanctioned junior event with great display of innovative surfing and rocketed into second place on the season-ending Billabong U18 series standings. He will join Masencamp, Maree and Jake Elkington (Kommetjie) in the four man squad who will represent WSL Africa at the WSL World Junior Championships in Australia in January 2017.

Bell won the U18 girls’ event today with Kirsty McGillivray (Jeffreys Bay) the runner-up. The pair finished in the same order in the Billabong and WSL Africa rankings and will join the four boys in Australia early next year.

Max Elkington defeated his SA junior teammate Koby Oberholzer (Warner Beach) in the U16 boys’ final today. The 15 year-old from Kommetjie has now claimed a phenomenal 14 national age group titles and this is his fifth consecutive Billabong Junior Series crown.

In the U16 girls, Woolf emerged victorious over Bell to frank the tremendous form she has shown over the past couple of years. McGillivray ended third and rising star Anna Jellema Butler (Kalk Bay) in fourth place.

The U14 boys’ event title went to Nate Spalding who finished ahead of fellow Durbanite Ireland, York van Jaarsveldt (Kommetjie) and Sam Bennie (Vredehoek). Emerging talent S’Nenhlanhla Makhubu won the U14 girls with Kayla Nogueira (Durban), Summer Sutton (Kommetjie) and Gabi Lailvaux (Westbrook) taking second to fourth places.

Thompson won the U12 boys’ event, overcoming James Ribbink (Durban North) who was one of the standouts in yesterday’s action. The winner of the Ballito event, Daniel Emslie (East London), finished third and Christian Venter (Melkbosstrand) took fourth.

With the finals completed and the tide dropping, the VonZipper Air Show was moved to the beach break where Eli Beukes (Kommetjie) landed the best aerial manoeuvre and pocketed the R2 000 winner-takes-all prize-purse.

Calvin Goor (Salt Rock) won the BOS ‘Best Carve of the Event’ and a surfboard, with Mitch Du Preez (East London) claiming the R2 000 for the Neff ‘Forever Fun’ award and James Ribbink earning an additional R2 500 for the Skull Candy ‘Stay Loud’ award.

Full results for all divisions can be found at http://www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za and the scores and results for the U18 boys’ and girls’ divisions can be found athttp://bit.ly/2dLc5Zb.
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The Billabong Junior Series is supported by VonZipper, BOS, Neff, Skull Candy, Surfing South Africa and the World Surf League.

© Billabong SA

Billabong Junior Series – Event #2 – Seal Point
Final Results

U/18 Boys
1 Sebastian Williams (Durban) R8 000
2 Adin Masencamp (Strand) R4 000
=3 Calvin Goor (Salt Rock) R2 500
=3 Ford Van Jaarsveld (Kommetjie) R2 500

U/18 Girls
1 Sophie Bell (Salt Rock) R4 000
2 Kirsty McGillivray (Jeffreys Bay) R2 000
=3 Kai Woolf (Jeffreys Bay) R1 000
=3 Taghiti Gericke (Wilderness) R1 000

U/16 Boys
1 Max Elkington (Kommetjie) R2 000
2 Koby Oberholzer (Warner Beach) R900
3 Karl Steen (Durban North) R600
4 Luke Slijpen (Llandudno) R500

U/16 Girls
1 Kai Woolf (Jeffreys Bay) R2 000
2 Sophie Bell (Salt Rock) R900
3 Kirsty McGillivray (Jeffreys Bay) R600
4 Anna Jellema Butler (Kalk Bay) R500

U/14 Boys
1 Nate Spalding (Durban) R2 000
2 Tide Lee Ireland (Durban) R900
3 York Van Jaarsveld (Kommetjie) R600
4 Sam Bennie (Vredehoek) R500

U/14 Girls
1 S’Nenhlanhla Makhubu (Durban) R2 000
2 Kayla Nogueira (Durban) R900
3 Summer Sutton (Kommetjie) R600
4 Gabi Lailvaux (Westbrook) R500

U/12 Boys
1 Luke Thompson (Durban) R1 000
2 James Ribbink (Durban North) R450
3 Daniel Emslie (East London) R300
4 Christian Venter (Melkbosstrand) R250

Billabong Junior Series – Event #2 – Special Awards

VonZipper Airshow – R2 000
Eli Beukes (Kommetjie)

BOS – Best Carve of the Event – Surfboard
Calvin Goor (Salt Rock)

Neff – Forever Fun Award – R 2 000
Mitch Du Preez (East London)

​Skull Candy – Stay Loud Award – R 2 500
James Ribbink (Durban North)

© Billabong SA

​2016 Billabong Junior Series
Final Rankings
U/18 Boys
1 Adin Masencamp (Strand) 1750 pts
2 Sebastian Williams (Durban) 1300
3 Jordy Maree (Kommetjie) 1145
U/18 Girls
1 Sophie Bell (Salt Rock) 1560 pts
2 Kirsty McGillivray (Jeffreys Bay) 1500
3 Kai Woolf (Jeffreys Bay) 1120
U/16 Boys
1 Max Elkington (Kommetjie) 2000 pts
2 Eli Beukes (Kommetjie) 1470
3 Luke Slijpen (Llandudno) 1400
U/16 Girls
1 Kai Woolf (Jeffreys Bay) 1860* pts 15.33
2 Sophie Bell (Salt Rock) 1860* 12.17
3 Kirsty McGillivray (Jeffreys Bay) 1285
U/14 Boys
1 Tide Lee Ireland (Durban) 1860 pts
2 Nate Spalding (Durban) 1670
3 York Van Jaarsveld (Kommetjie) 1590
U/14 Girls
1 S’Nenhlanhla Makhubu (Durban) 1730 pts
2 Kayla Nogueira (Durban) 1720
3 Gabi Lailvaux (Westbrook) 1670
U/12 Boys
1 Luke Thompson (Durban) 1610 pts
2 Daniel Emslie (East London) 1548
3 James Ribbink (Durban) 1315

© Billabong SA