BARBADIAN surfer Josh Burke kicked off his ASP World Junior Championship campaign in fine form today in Portugal.
After 12 heats of round one, the 17-year-old Burke had the fifth highest heat total and the seventh highest wave score.
Competing in almost perfect 6-8 foot long right-hander point breaks at the Priaia Riberia Beach in the village of Ericeira, Burke paddled into a 7.5 point scoring ride then backed it up with a 6.83 for a total of 14.33 points to combo the other two competitors.
With 12 minutes remaining, the Japanese surfer Shun Murakami collected a 6.37-point ride to bring himself out of the combination situation. He then got a difficult 7.96-point ride to take the first place from Burke.
Burke had led the 30-minute heat from the start until 17 seconds remaining when Murakami picked a wave and got a 8.27 for the win. Burke was second in that heat and moved into the second round.
“I felt really good during my warm up session early this morning [Sunday]. Before the event started, the swell was fresh with pumping waves in the 10-foot range. I rode my biggest board [but] as the day progressed, the waves dropped slightly. I decided to make the switch to down size my board and it just felt perfect,” Burke said in an email to NATION SPORT.
“With two minutes to go in the heat, I had priority. I was thinking of blocking Shun but this nice looking wave came so I took it as I prefer to surf than hassle and Shun got the score required to win the heat,” Burke noted. (EZS)
