Craig Anderson and Michael Spencer go wave for wave in an awesome Pro Am final
 
Newcastle Beach played host to the 3rd event of Volcom Stone’s VQS Crustaceous Tour 2008/2009. The day had it all, from punchy 3 foot wedges, sunshine, rain, wind, and humidity that brought out some crazy little flies and bugs. But all this wasn’t enough to deter the fun of the VQS and some insane surfing through out the day. Not to mention the presence of local and 4x World Champion Mark Richards (MR) turning up to check out the action and cheer on his son Nathan Richards.

The grom division hit the water first up and from the minute the hooter sounded you could tell they loved the 3-foot wedgy shorey’s that Newcastle was throwing at them. There were a couple of groms that didn’t miss a beat all day, especially Josh Hay he was on fire from the get go winning every heat to the final and looked like he was the grom to beat. It was a high class final with surfers from all over, Tylah Hutchinson Sydney, Josh Hay Central Coast, Jackson Baker Newcastle and Kurtis Herman from Port Stephens. The final proved to be exciting with all four surfers having one good ride each, it came down to the dying minutes when Kurtis Herman picked off a nice right hander and pulled off a couple of quick snaps and finished off with a huge floater on the shore to take out the final and be crowned VQS Champion of Newcastle, in 2nd place was the local Jackson Baker, coming a close third was Josh Hay and in forth place all the way from Sydney was Tylah Hutchinson.

Everyone that turned up for the junior division had the ability to win, we had talent from all over the east coast that were itching to get out in the line up and show the crowed beach that they meant business. Wes Bainbridge, a former winner of the VQS championships was a local favourite but couldn’t find a wining wave in his semi final. It seemed everyone had their eye on the same guy who was ripping in the groms Josh Hay from the central coast who once again won all his heats up till the final. The final was going to be a cracker with every surfer looking like they could take the winners trophy, but it was the local surfer Jake Sylvester who was the stand out surfer from the beginning, he posted a winning total of 14.5 with a 6 and an 8.5 in second place was Sam Paterson with a total heat score of 12.5 in 3rd place was Josh Hay who had been surfing in both divisions his total heat score was 11.5 and in 4th was Brodie Bannerman with a total of 7.

MICHAEL SPENCER TUBED IN THE FINAL
The turn out for the open division was massive with a big talent pool, from round 1 all the way to the final huge scores were being posted all day. The final was set out to be a cracker with Craig Anderson, Beau Foster, Josh Bull and Michel Spencer all ripping in their earlier rounds. Beau Foster took an early lead in the final when he posted two scores of 4.5 and a 4 but couldn’t find a another good scoring wave and finished in 4th place with Josh Bull finishing ahead in 3rd place.

It seemed like Michael Spencer and Craig Anderson were going blow for blow in the final, the lead changed with every wave they took off on. Spencer looked like he had the final in the bag when he posted a high 7 and backed it up with a 6.5, but never count out Craig Anderson who snapped his board on his second wave and borrowed his good mate Jesse Adams board with 3 minutes to go he needed to post two good scores and on his second last wave he picked up a nice hollow left hander, after a quick barrel he did a nice floater to pick up a 6 point ride, he then paddled back out to the line up with 1 minute to go and needing a higher score than a 7.5 to take the win from Spencer a 3 foot left popped up in front of him, knowing he needed to do something special he took off and went straight up into a nice forehand snap of the top and then raced down the line and did a massive forehand air reverse and picked him self up a 9 and also the VQS winners trophy. Anderson was twice the winner taking out the Electric prize of $50 and a pair of shades cash for the “ELECTRIC HYPE OF THE DAY”
winning this with a huge front side air in the earlier rounds.

All finalists put on a grand performance for the crowd on the beach and all secured their spots in the Australian VQS Championships to be held at Manly Beach in May 2009, and a chance to head to the $100,000 VQS World Championships in the USA.

FOR VIDEO CLIP OF EVENT GO TO VOLCOM.COM IN THE VQS AUSTRALIA SECTION..

Next Event this weekend, Saturday 15th November at Werri Beach on the South Coast, come get a load of some more VQS madness. Check Volcom.com for further details and to down load entry forms.
 
Thanks to our Supporting friend of the VQS Crustaceous Tour
Electric Visual
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