Date of Birth: May 4, 1990

Best Known For: Being happy, winning a Pro Junior when I was 17 and representing my country at the World Juniors in France last year

Local Spot: Currumbin Alley, D-Bah, Snapper

My Crew: Dale Richards, Nick Pollet, Brent Dorrington, Jack Freestone and Blake Ainsworth

Board of Choice: Hayden Shapes Black Cat 6'0” x 18” x 2.15”

Dream Wave: Mexico. I love the look of that crazy righthander. It looks similar to the pointbreaks where I live, but maybe a little better.

Rob, Ace, Brett, Conner and Mitch Crews have a free-for-all. Video: Tom Aiello

In WA looking to build on Junior Series

All in all it's been an incredible year for young Mitch Crews who is the current ratings leader of the Australian Junior Series.  He started strong, winning multiple events, podium finishes at worst however there is still a battle for first spot underway between himself and Davey Cathels, a two horse race is unfolding and it is going to be an exciting finish.

Right now Crews still has a solid lead but knows the battle is far from over. "Davey is an amazing surfer and i know he is capable of getting a few more huge results towards the end of the year," says Mitch, "but as you would know how he performs is out of my hands. I just have to worry about me and thats what i am now doing. I am super prepared, super focused... i just picked up a bunch of new Lee Stacey Boards which look super good so i am in a good spot. I just arrived in WA for the next Junior Event which kicks off in 4 days, i have arrived here a few days earlier to go and chase some waves with good friend Perth Standlick. The event is at one of the main beaches in Perth which is cool but as you would know the best waves are down south so thats the direction i am headed for a couple of days, then i will get back to the event beachbreak, get ready to snag a huge results."

Good luck to Mitch this week over in the West. I'm sure he will nail it!

MR

Australia's top junior shows his stuff. 

Mr. Crews maintains his commanding lead in the Aussie Pro Junior circuit

At it once again and continuing on his incredible form in 2010 is Mitch Crews... This time in Cronulla he proved too strong for rivals such as, Chris Friend, Garret Parkes and Davey Cathels...

Already 4000 points ahead of the pack entering the event it was Crews who pinned his ears back and proved to be to good winning the final with a couple of solid scores which totaled 15.25 points

Below are Mitch's results for the year,

 Jan 3-7 Bells Beach, Victoria-Australia Quiksilver Jetty Surf Pro Junior- 2nd Place

 Jan 22-26 Burleigh Heads,Qld-Australia Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior- 3rd Place

 Feb 1-5 Gold Coast,Qld-Australia Couran Cove Island Resort Pro Junior- 2nd Place

 Feb 9-13 Nth Stradbroke Island,Qld-Australia Oakley Pro Junior- 1st Place

 Mar 4-7 Merewether, Newcastle,NSW-Australia CHIKO Pro Junior- 1st Place

 Mar 15-19 Tuanotu-Tahiti 2010 Tahiti Nui Sattelite RANGIROA PRO JUNIOR - 2nd Place

 Apr 3-7 Cronulla,NSW-Australia Geared Pro Junior- 1st Place

Keep an eye out on Mitch to see when he locks the series up!

MR

Aussie makes another Pro Junior final

Top Pro Junior surfer Mitch Crews remained on a roll this past weekend when he finished runner-up at the TNS Rangiroa Pro Junior. The event was a record-breaker in terms of surf, with flawless righthand barrels producing a handful of perfect scores at the Tahitian outer island.

Mitch stayed on it through to the end, losing a close one to Tahitian Tamaroa McComb. The event keeps Crews on top of the Aussie Pro Junior rankings. Right on, Mitch!

Aussie junior is on a roll

Today Mitch Crews continued his hot streak, this time taking out the Chico Pro Junior, all a part of Newcastle's Mark Richards Surfest. Once again it was Davey Cathels who battled Crews for the win and once again it was Mitch who got the win. This pair are building a great little rivalry. Mitch is currenlty ranked number 1 and Cathels number 2...

In the 16's division at the same event in Newcastle, Cooper Chapman won again, this guy has been on a tear of late, too!

Go, Boys!—MR

Aussie charger earns a record $25,000 first-place check

Dean Bowen (Gerroa, NSW) today claimed the 2010’s Grade – 5 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior claiming a professional junior surfing world-record USD$25,000 winner’s cheque.

Bowen defeated Chris Friend (Alex Headland, Qld) in a seesawing final, which saw Bowen fall behind early, before retaliating with a blistering 9.17 (out of a possible 10) wave, registering a combined two-wave total of 16.17 (out of a possible 20) to Friend’s 14.63.

“I’ll definitely be having a few drinks tonight with family and friends, and possibly take a quiet little trip to the Gold Coast casino,” an excited Bowen, 19, said.

“The Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior is easily one of the best junior surfing events in the world and despite not being able to surf the famous waves of the point this year, its still been a great event and Hurley definitely know how to put on a show,” he said.

Bowen's backhand did the trick. 

Meanwhile for Friend, it was a bittersweet day with the likeable natural-footer not quite having enough gas to get him over the line in the final.

“To come so close and not be able to walk away with the USD$25,000 is disappointing, but in saying that placing second is still a great result,” Friend said.

“Dean (Bowen) is such a competitor in the water and he’s as Aussie as they come, so it’s great an Australian walked away with the cash in the end,” he said.

With four Australian surfers competing on the final day, the end result was always going to spark patriotic celebrations, however, Bowen’s win did spoil the party for the local contingent, as three Queenslanders including Blake Ainsworth (Coolangatta, Qld), Mitch Crews (Currumbin, Qld) and Chris Friend were eliminated in the semi-finals and final respectively.

A big turnout for the final. 

All is not lost for 19-year-old Mitch Crews, with the Gold Coaster attaining the number-one position atop the ASP Australasia Junior Men’s ratings, holding a 770 point lead over his nearest rival Davey Cathels (Narrabeen, NSW).

Visit www.hurleyprojnr.com for news, photos and updates relating to the 2010 Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior with plenty of action from the event’s Australia Day celebrations.

2010 ASP Australasia Junior Men’s Ratings

1. Mitch Crews (Currumbin, Qld) – 4770 points
2. Davey Cathels (Narrabeen, NSW) – 4200 points
2. Dean Bowen (Gerroa, NSW) – 4200 points
4. Chris Friend (Alex Headland, Qld) 3930 points
5. Blake Ainsworth (Coolangatta, Qld) 3390 points

Results – Day Five
Semi-Final One:
Dean Bowen (Gerroa, NSW) 15.67 def Blake Ainsworth (Coolangatta, QLD) 13.66

Semi-Final Two:
Chris Friend (Alex Headland, QLD) 13.03 def Mitch Crews (Currumbin, QLD) 12.23

Final
Dean Bowen (Gerroa, NSW) 16.17 def Chris Friend (Alex Headland, QLD) 14.63

Semis decided at the Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior

Waves were even a little smaller today than the last few, but luckily the beachbreak still had some shape and competitors made the most of it. There were only 8 heats run today and they were 8 good ones.... The highlight by far was in Quarterfinal 3, Mitch Crews vs Peterson Cresanto. Mitch, who earlier in the day locked in one of the best performances of the day, was on the ropes against the Brazilian. Peterson had a 7 and 6 and Mitch was stuck with a mid range 4 point ride... 30 seconds to go Mitch gets a chance... In search of an 8.50 Mitch goes crazy and does some of the best surfing of the event to lock in a 9.17 and book a spot in the semis... A crazy performance!

Mitch Crews with a buzzer-beater. 

Today's matchups:

Dean Bowen vs Blake Ainsworth

Mitch Crews vs Chris Freind

Click here for the live webcast.

Crews starts the year strong with a second at the Jetty Surf Pro Junior

The Australian Junior Series is up and running once again for 2010 with the first event down at Bells Beach. It was a great event for the Hurley Team. Gold Coast surfer, Mitch Crews who has just recovered from injury, did extremely well in the event to finish runner-up. According to contest director and General Pants Group employee Matt Owens, Mitch was the surfer of the event and was unlucky not to have won. All in all a fantastic result for Mitch which now puts him in second position on the Junior Series.

New Hurley recruit, Chris Salisbury also did well to finish equal 5th in the event, a solid start to the year.
Next up for the Juniors is the World Juniors at Narrabeen and then the Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior up on the Gold Coast which boosts a 25k first prize cheque. Break's over. Time to boogie again. —MR