San Juan Capistrano, California (June 7, 2009) – Nat Young (Santa Cruz, CA), 17, won the Grade 3, Arnette All Day Antics Pro Junior presented by Jack’s Surfboards in two-to-three foot (1 metre) surf at 56^th street in Newport Beach, California topping fellow finalists Keanu Asing (Ewa Beach, HI), 16, Cory Arrambide (Ventura, CA), 19, and Cody Thompson (Jacksonville, FL), 19.

All surfers competing on the ASP North America Pro Junior Series are battling for their spot at the ASP World Junior Championships held in Narrabeen, Australia each January. ASP North America will send the series’ top three finishers at year’s end to the coveted event, where each surfer earns the chance to claim the prestigious title of ASP World Junior Champion.

Young’s dominating performance in the Arnette All Day Antics illustrated why he is a threat in every ASP North America Pro Junior Series event. The humble goofy-footer annihilated his competition today and jumped out to an early lead in the Final, posting two average scores before smashing an 8.25 out of 10 on his last wave to solidify the win.

“The Final was kind of weird,” Young said. “There weren’t many good waves, so I just tried to stay busy and keep improving my scores and luckily on that last wave I got two good turns in and got a solid score.”

The Santa Cruz native’s lightning-quick forehand approach and impeccable wave selection on the racy lefthanders at 56^th Street played a critical role in his impressive showing.

”I think it definitely helps to be on your forehand out here on these lefts,” Young said. “It’s pretty fast, but in the end you’ve really just got to get the best waves out there. It’s whoever gets the best waves.”

The Arnette All Day Antics Pro Junior victory by Young will play a critical role in his quest toward re-qualification for next year’s ASP World Junior Championships and will launch him towards the top of the 2009 ASP North America Pro Junior Series ratings.

“I’m stoked to win the Grade-3,” Young said. “This is my first win of the year and it’s especially good because of the extra points, so it’s important for this year.”
Asing quietly marched his way through to a second place finish, smashing the 56^th Street lefthanders on his backhand throughout the event in route to his standout performance. The explosive Hawaiian got off to a slow start in the Final, but worked his way back up the ladder to finish behind Young.

“I’m just really happy to make the Final,” Asing said. “It’s great to come over here and get some points. Congratulations to Nat (Young) and all of the other finalists, everyone was surfing well.”

Asing is hoping his second place finish will help his chances in representing Hawaii at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships next year.

“It’s really cool to be able to earn points towards qualification for worlds,” Asing said. “I had fun here and I hope this helps my cause.”

Arrambide, who was the defending Arnette Pro Junior Series Champion, was off to a rough start to his 2009 season, but he was back to his usual domineering form en route to his third place result. The Ventura local smashed a seven-point-ride early on in the Final, but could not find another solid score to take out the win.

“I was definitely nervous coming in to this contest,” Arrambide said. “My first two contests were kind of shockers, but since then, I’ve been training harder than ever and I’m stoked to get on a role. I haven’t really had a good heat yet, I’ve just kind of been skimming through.”

Thompson’s Final berth was a notable result for the ASP North America Pro Junior standout, marking his first appearance amongst the final four surfers in three years. The talented Floridian’s fourth place finish at the Arnette Pro Junior helped him break out of his early season slump and Thompson was happy to capitalize on the additional ASP Grade-3 points on offer.

“This is the first Pro Junior Final I’ve made since I was 16,” Thompson said. “I’ve been in a slump, so I’m stoked to have made it here. I’ve had a really bad year. This is the first event that I’ve made it out of my seeded round, so to make it to the Final in this one, a Grade-3, it’s really important to me.”

The next ASP North America Pro Junior Series event will be the ASP Grade-4 Nike 6.0 Pier Pressure presented by Jack’s from June 28-29, 2009.

San Juan Capistrano, California (June 6, 2009) – The Arnette All Day Antics Pro Junior presented by Jack’s Surfboards kicked off the third of 10 stops on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) North America Pro Junior regional series today with explosive early round action. Matt Meola (Kuau, HI), 19, led the competition when he issued the event’s first perfect 10-point-ride while advancing through his tough heats.

The ASP North America Pro Junior Series acts as a qualifier for the ASP World Junior Championships, with the series’ top three finishers at year’s end earning a berth onto the coveted event held in Narrabeen, Australia in an attempt to claim the title of ASP World Junior Champion.

Meola earned his perfect score with only one maneuver. The high-flying Hawaiian punted a critical air reverse on a Newport Beach wedge to earn the score and tacked the amazing performance onto his previous high scoring ride to claim the top heat total of the day as well, a near perfect 18.25 out of 20.

“Lately, I’ve just been trying to go big,” Meola said. “I think it’s boring to see a bunch of small turns, so I try and do what I like to watch.”

The variety of surf available to the Maui native allows him to prepare for anything the ocean offers him and his ability to capitalize on today’s fast beachbreak conditions paid off.

“I live on Maui and there are so many different types of waves,” Meola said. “I go out to Hana and there are beachbreaks over there and where I live is mostly reefbreak. There is a ton of different terrain to surf, so I’m kind of used to it.”

Meola is also hoping that a good showing here at the Arnette All Day Antics Pro Junior will help his cause towards qualification for the ASP World Junior Championships. Now that Hawaiian surfers earn points towards qualification for the prestigious event while competing in mainland America, the ASP Grade-3 status of the Arnette Pro Junior will play an equally significant role in the Hawaiian’s qualification hopes as mainland American competitors.

“I’m super psyched, because in the past we have only had about two contests,” Meola said. “That made it really hard to qualify for worlds, which was really frustrating. Now that we can earn points towards our Hawaii rating over here, it’s so sick.”

Kolohe Andino (San Clemente, CA), 15, also donated an explosive performance in Round 3 today, crushing an impressive 9.50 out of 10 with several backhand blasts on a Newport set-wave. Andino notched a 17.50 heat total to leave the field in a combination situation on the way to his heat victory.

“I just got lucky,” Andino said. “The wave that I was able to get that 9.50 on was the biggest and best set wave that I’ve seen all day and I just tapped it.”

The prodigious talent is looking to capitalize on his entry in to the ASP Grade-3 Arnette Pro Junior and is out to earn the valuable ratings points on offer to help his seed towards next year’s campaign.

“I’m not trying to qualify for worlds or anything yet,” Andino said. “I’m still young and have plenty of time and want to get some good points to help my seed. I’m still only in the Round of 32, so I have a long way to go.”

Ford Archbold (Newport Beach, CA), 18, was the local standout in today’s event, blasting an impressive 15.25 out of 20 in the first of his two heat wins.

“I’m stoked to come out and have a good first heat,” Archbold said. “I don’t want to think about it too much though, because you can always come back and have a shocker the next heat. I’m just trying to keep my momentum up and do better in the next heat.”

The regular-footer utilized his local knowledge to tackle the fast beachbreak walls on his backside to dominate his heats today and will face the event’s top seeds when he surfs again tomorrow.

“It’s pretty hard on the backside, but you’ve got to work with what you’ve got,” Archbold said. “I surf this place everyday, so I’m really used to it. It’s kind of like free-surfing out here.”

Tomorrow’s Arnette All Day Antics Pro Junior presented by Jack’s Surfboards action will see the event’s top seeds including defending ASP North America Pro Junior Series Champion Cory Arrambide (Ventura, CA), 19, junior standout Nat Young (Santa Cruz, CA), 17, and local standout Andrew Doheny (Newport Beach, CA), 16, compete against today’s top performers.

San Juan Capistrano, California (June 5, 2009) – Top Pro Juniors ready themselves for the Arnette All Day Antics Pro Junior presented by Jack’s Surfboards. The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Grade-3 event will run at 54th Street in Newport Beach, California from June 6-7, 2009.

Hosted by industry icons Dave Stanfield and Peter Mel, the event will be webcast LIVE at www.arnetteprojunior.com <http://www.arnetteprojunior.com>  and feature a high-quality stream filmed with HD cameras, complete daily surfing action, blow-by-blow live scoring, and on-air giveaways. The live webcast will start at 8:OO AM each day of competition.

Watch America’s premier junior’s kick-off their summer season with one of the first South swells to reach the California coast in weeks. As one of only three Grade-3 or higher rated Pro Junior events on the ASP 2009 calendar, this weekend’s contest has critical qualifying points on the line and offers competitors a crucial opportunity to build a campaign toward qualifying for the World Junior Championships.

Wavewatch.com Forecast:

Official event forecaster, Wavewatch.com, is predicting a playful mix of swell for both days of competition.

SSW swell should peak and hold throughout the day on Saturday with waves in the chest-to-shoulder high range and occasional head-high sets mixed in. On Sunday, the SSW swell may slowly fade, but waves are still anticipated to remain in the chest-to-shoulder high range with inconsistent head-high waves mixing into the larger sets throughout the remainder of the contest.

The 2009 ASP North America Pro Junior Series is a qualifier for the ASP World Junior Championships; with all surfers on the series looking to compile their best five results to earn a top three regional finish at year’s end. Arnette’s decision to upgrade their Pro Junior to an ASP Grade-3 event translates into additional points on offer in the Newport contest, which will play a vital role in each surfers qualification for the prestigious event held in Narrabeen, Australia.

“We are fired up for the second annual Arnette Pro Jr,” Arnette Brand Manager Joe Freitag said. “Coming off of such a successful event last year, and working with such great partners as Jack’s and ASG, we’ve decided to up the ante and upgrade the event to a 3-grade, giving younger competitors a greater opportunity to battle it out and earn points on the ASP North American Pro Junior Series.”

Andrew Doheny (Newport Beach, CA), 16, is a local at 54^th street and was also a qualifier for the ASP World Junior Championships last year. The talented regular-footer is hungry to post an impressive performance in front of his home crowd and is out to utilize his local knowledge in the Arnette Pro Junior to help his cause. ”Newport is my home,” Doheny said. “I surf here every day so there is no way I can get lost going to the contest. It is just really nice having a contest at home, but in the end it is a beachbreak so it’s all about wave selection.”

"Droid" at home in his backyard

Doheny is also looking to utilize the event’s ASP Grade-3 status to help him earn back-to-back qualifications for the ASP World Junior Championships next year. Since there are two ASP Grade-3 events and one ASP Grade-4, the Nike Pier Pressure, on the 2009 calendar, the Newport Beach local is well aware of the importance of a big result at the upcoming event.

”The contest is very important,” Doheny said. “Whether or not you go to Australia will be decided by how you do at the two Grade-3’s and the Grade-4. I am really looking forward to the event and I am stoked that it is at [54^th Street].”

Nat Young, who is a constant threat to all competitors on the ASP Pro Junior Series, is also on the hunt for a win at the Arnette All Day Antics Pro Junior. Young hopes that a solid result at the event at 54^th Street will help pave the way to a successful campaign for the 2009 season.

Nat exhibiting his competitive prowess

”I think it is very important do well in this contest,” Young said. “Since it’s a Grade-3, there are more points involved and I think whoever wins this contest will be sitting well for qualification to worlds. There is a Grade-4 and another Grade-3, but it would be good to have a really good result early on in the year.”

Young has already had a successful year on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), with standout performances against some of the world’s finest international competitors and now he’s looking to carry the confidence earned from those events over to his regional ASP Pro Junior campaign.

“I think it definitely helps with confidence,” Young said. “I just had the hardest heat of my life at Lowers with C.J. (Hobgood) and Dane (Reynolds). However, I try not to underestimate anyone, because anyone can have a good 20 minutes. And when I do underestimate someone I usually end up losing to him.”

The Arnette All Day Antics Pro Junior will run from June 6-7, 2009 at 54^th Street in Newport Beach, California and will begin at 8 am local time. Both days of the event will be webcast LIVE  with a high quality stream via www.arnetteprojunior.com/live.