BELMAR, New Jersey – Mexico’s Dylan Southworth, 20, claimed his maiden Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) event victory by taking out the ASP Grade-1 Fins Pro Junior on Sunday in firing four-to-six foot (1.5 metre) barrels compliments of Hurricane Igor in Belmar New Jersey.
Santa Barbara native Parker Coffin nearly took his first ASP title, finishing second to Southworth.
Coffin, the lone Californian in the Final, made an attempt to overtake Southworth for the win, posting an impressive 8 point ride, but was left searching for a score in the final minutes and finished Runner-Up overall, snatching valuable ratings points towards his ASP North America Pro Junior series rating in the process.
“I’m psyched that I made the Final,” Coffin, 15, said. “I would have liked to win, but it was one of those heats where everything went Dylan’s (Southworth) way. I’m stoked on the result though. I know this will help my seed and hopefully I can get into all of the events next year.”
The Fins Pro Junior, stop No. 2 on the ASP North America Pro Junior Series, allows up-and-coming talent the opportunity to establish their seed on the regional ratings. A top regional finish allows under-21 competitors the chance to qualify for the prestigious ASP World Junior Tour.
Southworth built momentum throughout the Final matchup, logging a 9-point ride in the beginning of the heat before threading the needle on a racy barrel to notch an 8.80, both out of 10, in the remaining minutes of the heat to solidify his victory over Coffin, Balaram Stack (New York), 18, and North Carolina’s Cam Richards.
“This is my first ASP win and my last event as a Pro Junior, so I’m stoked,” Southworth said. “It was such a relief to finally get good waves for an event and I feel like that was all I needed. I’m really happy to have won.”
Southworth, who landed in America’s North East coast after traveling through Europe in search of results on the ASP Star series, was elated to score good hurricane barrels after a few wave-starved events.
“I went over to Europe to get some points for my World Ranking and I figured I might as well come to the North East to do the last Junior events that I could since it’s my last year,” Southworth said. “It never got over waist high in all of the events until this one, so it was just a relief to finally get fun waves.”
Balaram Stack (Long Beach, NY), 18, was one East Coast talent to assert his dominance over the competition while advancing through to the Final. The New Yorker also made a valiant attempt to overtake Southworth, cracking an 8 point score in the back half of the heat, but was unable to find another high score and finished 3rd overall.
“The surf is pretty fun,” Stack said. “It’s bigger today and I feel like this is the real hurricane swell. It has more power to it.”
Stack, who notched his career best result just a week ago at the ASP Grade-4 Nike 6.0 Unsound Junior Pro, is thrilled to start the new season strong while capitalizing on local East Coast events to build his ASP Pro Junior rating.
“It’s sick to start the year off like this,” Stack said. “It’s great to have these East Coast events and to compete so close to home. The waves are different and it feels easier to compete here, I wish we had more contests over here.”
For additional ASP Pro Junior information log on to www.aspworldtour.com or www.aspnorthamerica.org
Fins Pro Junior Final Result:
1 – Dylan Southworth (MEX) 17.93
2 – Parker Coffin (USA) 12.80
3 – Balaram Stack (USA) 10.10
4 – Cam Richards (USA) 10.10
