Fear at the Pier in Huntington Beach for Inagural Pro Junior
July 5, 2006
Fear at the Pier in Huntington Beach for Inagural Pro Junior
2006 Fear at the Pier presented by Xcel
The inaugural Fear at the Pier presented by Xcel sets foot in the timeless shadow of Huntington Beach Pier July 8-9 as an Association of Surfing Professional (ASP) North America Grade 2 Junior Pro. North America’s top seeded juniors will lay siege to the waves surrounding the world-famous wave magnet as they vie for the $10,000 prize purse and important ratings points.
As the sixth event of ASP North America’s Pro Junior Tour, Fear at the Pier presented by Xcel is a prime competition for surfers trying to gain a foothold in the ratings and make a push for the championships. Taking place between NSSA Nationals on June 22 and the Surfing America USA Championships on July 11, this event is ideal for the emerging talent competing on the West Coast. Another major factor is that three of the top four ratings leaders are not competing in this event, giving ambitious hopefuls like Adam Wickwire (10), Eddie Guilbeau (11) and Nick Rozsa (15), the opportunity to capitalize and shrink the gap between themselves and the leaders. They do, however, have to watch out for current ratings leader and final-making machine, Eric Geiselman, who will certainly be looking to add to his trophy cabinet. The field of 80 competitors is made up of primarily North American surfers with 11 coming from Hawaii, as well as one surfer arriving from Peru and another from Australia. No Fear has selected Patrick Cahill and Casey Landvogt to participate as their wild cards.
Being one of the few stand-alone pro junior events this year, top junior professionals will take center stage with two days of live web cast and scoring, which means if you can’t make it to the beach log on at www.fearatthepier.comto watch as your favorite groms battle their way through heat after stacked heat.
Rounding out the action packed weekend will be an eight-man Sobe/No Fear Air Show which will showcase the innovative talents of four invited participants while giving four of the Pro Junior competitors the opportunity to earn their way into the event. Judges will award the four best airs boosted before the semifinals of the Pro Junior with a ticket into the air show and the chance to walk away with part of the $2000 purse.
The 2006 ASP North America Pro Junior tour has been hotly contested with competitors battling it out for the highly coveted seeds in the ASP Pro Junior Championships held in Narrabeen, Australia, in early January. The four top-rated surfers from each region receive an invite to the prestigious event, which has crowned such celebrities as Joel Parkinson (AUS), Andy Irons (HAW) and Adriano de Souza (BRA). The winner and runner-up of the World Championships will also be awarded wild-card invitations to all of the six star WQS events in 2007.
Fear at the Pier is supported by No Fear, Xcel Wetsuits, Surfer Magazine, and WaveWatch.