In a surprising upset, 17-year-old Agus Frimanto narrowly eliminated last year’s Oakley Pro winner Mustofa Jeksen today at Canggu Beach, besting Jeksen by a mere half a point. Young Frimanto is on a roll, having won his Round 3 heat yesterday against well-seasoned competitors Made Artha, Made Awan, and Rahtu Suargita, and now has bested last year’s winner as well.
Frimanto took the first wave to lead off the heat, while Jeksen exercised patience and used his priority, waiting for the bigger sets waves to push through. Frimanto continually prowled the lineup and kept himself busy racking up points, then picked off a set wave that got him one of the top scores of the day, a 7.75.
With a minute to go and needing a 7.4 to advance, Jeksen took the next available next wave and bashed it thoroughly, but the wave just didn’t offer him quite enough and he finished with a 6.8 to exit the competition.
Frimanto was excited but put on a calm demeanor back on the beach saying, “I felt good out there, but I’m a bit surprised that I beat Mustofa. I didn't thing about him, just tried to find some good waves and do my best. But it is a great feeling to beat last year’s winner and an even better feeling to join the other guys in the Quartersfinals. I’m super happy about that!”, he added. Frimanto hails from Nusa Lembongan and has already had international competition experience having been to Australia and New Zealand.
The day’s action got off at 7:45 am with the wave conditions just perfect for Canggu. A slight offshore breeze groomed the solid 4 foot glassy and well shaped waves rolling through on a rising tide, so the competitors and spectators couldn’t have asked for a better start to the man-on-man Round 4 action on a Sunday morning.
First up was last year’s Coca-Cola ISC Champ Lee Wilson going head to head with last year’s Oakley Pro runner up Dedi Santoso. After trading the lead several times during the heat, the 7.5 high score by Wilson proved too big a hurdle for Santoso, so he will watch the rest of the comp from the beach.
Heat 3 saw a pitched battle between Dede Suryana and Garut Widiarta, the two trading blows and the lead numerous times during the 20-minute heat. In the end it was Suryana’s 7.5 and 6.25 scores that trumped Widiarta’s 7.5 and 6.1. After the heat Widiarta was philosophical about the loss saying, “I had fun out there even though I lost the heat. We were both surfing good and it was pretty much about who got the longest and most lined up wave. If I could have gotten one more good one...but time just ran out. So I’m out of the comp and I’d love to be surfing the Quarters tomorrow, but now I can go free surf the Sand Bar while its going off, so its not all that bad is it," he added grinning.
Other surfers advancing into the Quarterfinals with heat wins today were Marlon Gerber, who will take on his best mate Lee Wilson, then Dede Suryana will take on goofyfooter Komang “Gogo” Sujaya, Pepen Hendrik will be up against Made Awan, and finally the two dark horses Agus Frimanto and Wayan Suprayitna will fight it out for a semifinal berth. See attached Heat Draw for the full rundown.
After Round 4 was finished, the Masters Division contestants were called up for their heats. The waves were still pumping and these 35 and older men took full advantage of the great waves, giving the spectators and the younger guys quite a show. At the end of 5 heats of surfing Ida Bagus Rai, Ketut “Kombong” Juliarta, Wayan “Ompong” Budiasa, and Made Lapur all made the cut and will face off in the Masters Final that will be held tomorrow.
It is expected that the contest will be completed tomorrow; so all contestants, crew and spectators should be at Canggu Beach at 7:30 am for a possible 8 am start.
To check today’s and the previous day’ action, go to Oakley’s minisite at www.oakleyindonesia.com/
The Oakley Pro 2010 is sanctioned by the Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championship Tour and is sponsored/supported by Extreme Toys, New Era, San Miguel Light, OZ 101.2 FM, SurfTime, Lines, Magic Wave, and GUS.
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