In an all-American semifinal, Santa Barbara’s Conner Coffin lost a closely fought battle with Andrew Doheny of Newport Beach at the Oakley ASP World Pro Junior Championship in Bali on Monday.
The heat started slow, but finished with a bang. Both surfers had similar scores and it came down to the last exchange. The heat was over and both surfers were on the sand when it was announced that Doheny got the score required to progress to the final. He scored 15.37 to Coffin’s 14.73.
“I’m feeling fine, kind of bummed, but it was a good heat,” Coffin said. “It came down to the end and I caught the first wave which was a bit bumpy, and the second one that he got was cleaner and he ripped it apart. That’s how it goes. I got 5th here last year, so it’s good to go one better.”
In the quarterfinals, Coffin scored 15.60 and defeated Brazil’s Peterson Crisanto (13.96).
Doheny lost in the final to Australia’s Davey Cathels, 18.03-17.10.
Cathels won $25,000 and took the lead in the ASP World Junior Title Race with 10,000 ratings points.
“This is the biggest win of my career!” Cathels said. “I wasn’t feeling much pressure when I was chasing that big score at all. I’m always more nervous watching other people compete than when I’m actually doing it myself. I’ve been having good surfs all week and I knew if I got the right waves I could get the score. I still can’t believe I won, I just tried to do all the little things right all week and get through a few heats and now here I am. I’m so stoked!.”
Doheny, who earned $10,000 and 8000 point towards the 2011 ASP World Junior Title Race, was thrilled to make the final.
“I’m super stoked because I’m not the best contest surfer,” Doheny said. “I came here last year and lost in the first round, so I said to myself as long as I win that heat I’ll be happy, then I ended up getting 2nd. I did a lot better than I thought so I’m really happy.”
