ASP 2 stars Liencres, SPAIN
July, 9-10-11

July, Sunday 11th The kids were on fire!!

Yesterday evening, after a short meeting with the 8 semi finalists, the decision has been taken to wait until this morning to go thru the last 3 heats of this 2 stars Pro junior contest in Liencres. Not insane conditions were expected but clean enough to make the show;1 to 2 feet waves were breaking on the little sand bar of this beautiful beach of Liencres.

The kids were still hungry and went out with full determination in these small and tough conditions. 3 heats on a world class level.

Aritz Aranburu and Simon Marchand got rid of Nathan Hèle from Lacanau and Txaber Trojaola from Euskadi who impressed everyone since his first heat of the round of 64. Defenitely one kid to follow...

The second semi final heat was just insane! 3 of the 5 best juniors on tour and an incredible tahitian rider Michel Bourez willing to play the outsider role. Michel, Jérémy Flores, Hodei Collazo and recent winner of the 2 stars contest in St Leu – Réunion Marlon Lipke showed ones of the best performances of the event. The highest scores for the tahitian rider with a heat total of 15.33 points.

The 40 minutes final heat was intense. Tactically and technically. Only a few set reached the sand bar chosen by the 4 riders Simon Marchand, Aritz Aranburu, Michel Bourez and Marlon Lipke. You had to find your waves to make it thru. The german Marlon Lipke surfed the best waves of the heat with surprising skills in small conditions!

He comments: ”I'm so happy! This kids are so strong in small waves, I'm not! Everything was coming together in the water. I'm stoked.”

Second contest in a row for Marlon Lipke who remains one of the favourite title contender for this season with Aritz Aranburu and Jérémy Flores.

Thanks you kids for the show!

RIP CURL PRO JUNIOR Liencres-Cantabria Infinita is proudly supported by “La Consejeria de Cultura, Turismo y Deportes” of the Cantabrian Governement, Pielagos Town Hall, Telefonica and Playstation.

the kids are grateful and would like to thank Luis, Nancy and Leire- happy birthday, guapa!

Franck Goudou

Smaller conditions were expected for the second day of this 2 stars Pro Junior in Liencres. Though, the show has been on for almost 9 hours today with incredible performances of the 48 riders left! The first heats of the day started this morning in 2 to 3 feet waves and a slight offshore wind. The swell decreased a little bit but the bright sunny day and the surfing level kept everyone happy!

Young and surprising talents as Txaber Trojaola (Euskadi) or 14 years old Marcos San Segundo from Zarautz showed huge potential of this fun little beachbreak. Marcos made it thru and experienced his first ¼ finals against recent winner of the St Leu contest, Marlon Lipke.He comments: ”It is such a great surprise for me! I finished first of my 1/8 finals heat against Marlon Lipke and Joao Guedes who are probably ones of the 10 best juniors on tour. I couldn't believe it and wasn't really expecting this. I just surfed as good as I could.”

Later in the day, the top riders of the Pro Junior ranking were rocking the beach with amazing rides and full determination. Jérémy Flores showed world class skills in an incredible ¼ finals heat against Hodei Collazo, Loïc Erran and Raphael Ayme. Reverse airs, powerfull cut backs and intense re-entries put Jérémy on a higher level. It deserved the highest score of the day with a 16.77 points heat!

Tahitian and hungry rookie Michel Bourez amazed the crowd on the beach with radical manoeuvres in the small little inside waves. He scored a 8.83 pointer on his ¼ finals heat and made it thru to the semis where he will compete with Jérémy Flores, Hodei Collazo and Marlon Lipke.

The second semi finals will be between Txaber Trojaola, Aritz Aranburu, Simon Marchand and Nathan Hèle.

It looks like tomorrow, Liencres is gonna be the place to be!

Check in for the ½ and the final at 9.30 a.m on site.

RIP CURL PRO JUNIOR Liencres-Cantabria Infinita is proudly supported by “La Consejeria de Cultura, Turismo y Deportes” of the Cantabrian Governement, Pielagos Town Hall, Telefonica and Playstation.

the kids are gratefull and would like to thank Luis, Nancy and Leire!

Franck Goudou

Right after an excellent contest in St Leu (Réunion), the young guns of the Pro Junior Tour are back on the old continent for the expected 2 stars contest in Liencres - Cantabria. One of the best beachbreaks of northern spain is hosting the first of the “Big event” of the european leg. Right in the midst of a beautiful national park, the cliffs of Liencres give an australian ambiance to the event. Definetly the best spot around for the best juniors on tour. They are all here; from the top riders on the ranking to the hungry locals who know more than anyone how good and technical this wave can get. 96 riders staring at the 10 000 ? prize money.

The first day of the event started in 4 to 5 feet consistant waves and a good offshore wind ‘til midday. Hard conditions for the first heats of the day where the UK rider Reubyn Ash showed some impressive manoeuvers and scored one of the best 3 waves of the day with a 6.67 pointer. He says: “ I'm stoked to come down from UK for this first big pro junior event. This is pretty much my first experience in spain and I know it's always challenging to compete against portuguese, spanish and french juniors. The level gets really high down here.”

The most impressive rider of the day is clearly the surprising Txaber Trojaola from Euskadi , on who every judges eyes were since his performance in the past 2 events in Sopelana and St Leu. “This kid has been really improving for the past 4 months; he gets confidence and power in the contests” reckons Borja Echeverria, former ASP head judge.

The clouds showed up in the afternoon and a light rain turned the heat down but still some riders were making the show. Especially Reunion Island ripper Raphael Ayme who scored the best heat score of the day with an impressive 14.60 points. The round of 64 has been fully completed today and we're all looking forward to seeing next heats tomorrow morning from 8 am on site. All eyes will be on St Leu finalists Joan Duru, Marlon Lipke, Aritz Aranburu, Jean-Seb Estienne. The kids are on fire, watch out, tomorrow live on CNN!

RIP CURL PRO JUNIOR Liencres-Cantabria Infinita is proudly supported by “La Consejeria de Cultura, Turismo y Deportes” of the Cantabrian Governement, Pielagos Town Hall, Telefonica and Playstation.

the kids are gratefull and would like to thank Luis, Nancy and Leire!

Frank Goudou