Reigning senior champ, Matty Cook, had to play second fiddle to another cook meister – his brother Ben – in the final of the May showdown held in wild waves on a confronting Reef.
With the cameras sending the footage live to millions around the globe, the Cookies went hell for leather for supremacy – collecting dazzling rides on both middle reef and in the Alley in a blockbuster final that saw the judges scrambling to keep up with scorching performances by all the finalists.
Coming in third was Drew Kelly, followed by Mark Campbell and Greg Ferrow. Matty Mulder also made the final six after some spanking surfing in earlier heats, but had to race off to work before the starting hooter blasted.
The level of surfing excellence was awash in all divisions, with the challenging overhead waves providing plenty of spice for all riders to cut loose, regardless of constant rain squalls.
In the Junior final, Dion Earle entrenched his leading position on the 2015 championship scoreboard with a blistering set of performances that took the breath away of the 1,000-plus audience crammed in the famous Shoes Pavilion. Dion’s pushing of the envelope was absolutely necessary because the other three contenders were no less impressive.
Coming in second was Sam Lee, followed by Blake Sawtell and Riley Lee.
The SuperGroms finale was up there with ASP World Tour standards. Every Grom excelled in the fraught conditions, confirming that the Shoes Club has the best young brigade of riders in the Southern Hemisphere.
Taking the honours in a hard fought final battle were Koby, Luca Durante, Sam Cornock and Jackson Hickey.
So now it’s onto June, with the first date of 13-14, and the back-up date of 20-21.
The Shoes Family – members, friends, cousins, uncles, aunties, you name it – honour and support the Club’s wonderful sponsors: Dr John Murray, Only Organic Foods, Tina and Nicole’s Home Delivery, Tengirri Surf Charters, WJ Partners Accountants, Vestal, Lipman Construction, PCC Surboards, Cronulla Travel, Pure Sea Surf Shop, Little Parrot, STC, Cronulla Surf Design and Hot Yogi.
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