Hometown favourite, Beyrick De Vries powered his way to victory at Event 2 of Quiksilver’s Get Free Series, which was contested in classic KZN winter conditions at Umhlanga’s Bronze Beach over the weekend. Fellow north coast local, Shane Sykes, took out the Under 20 division, while Sebastian Williams claimed first in the Under 16’s.
Eyes on the prize; Beyrick was determined to win in front of his home crowd.
Conditions were small and clean on Saturday, but a strong 16 second groundswell predicted for day two did not fail to deliver, ensuring glassy four foot peaks were on offer on Sunday.
There were plenty of opportunities for ramps and tube sections, with Casey Grant nailing one of the stand-out pits of the event during his quarter final; scoring an excellent 9.0 in the process. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to back it up with another substantial score, which allowed Slade Prestwich and Beyrick De Vries to advance through to the semi finals.
Slade’s good run came to an end after an interference call in the semi finals.
Another KZN north coast local, Wade Simkiss, did well to make it into the Under 20 Boys final, where he was matched-up against Shane Sykes, Matt Mcgillivray and Dylan Lightfoot. By this time the tide and wind had made conditions a little trickier, but competitors were still able to maximise points by working their rides all the way to the beach. In the end, Shane’s hi-speed turns and airs-on-demand were enough for him to take the win and the R4000 prize money that went with it. Dylan Lightfoot took second, followed by Matt and Wade who placed third and fourth respectively.
U20 division winner, Shane Sykes, getting busy on his backhand.
In the Open Men’s final, all eyes were on Mikey February and Beyrick De Vries, who traded first and second position after just about every set wave, leaving Dale Staples and Brandon Jackson in a combination situation by the halfway mark. MFeb drew first blood, squeezing every drop of juice out of an inside runner to post an even 4.0 score. Beyrick was quick to respond, however, laying down a big frontside air-reverse to score a 4.5 and put himself ahead.
MFeb almost backed-up his win at Event 1 in Cape Town with victory in KZN.
Mikey stole the lead again after putting in a series of turns on a smaller right to back his 4.0 up with a 3.8, but the Umhlanga hometown hero was having none of it. Beyrick sealed the deal after taking off on a bowly right and smashing the lip with a huge power hack, before finishing off with two more strong turns for an excellent 8.5 score.
Check out the gallery here.
QUIKSILVER GET FREE SERIES – Event 2 Results:
OPEN MEN’S:
1st – Beyrick De Vries
2nd – Mikey February
3rd – Dale Staples
4th – Brandon Jackson
UNDER 20:
1st – Shane Sykes
2nd – Dylan Lightfoot
3rd – Matt McGillivray
4th – Wade Simkiss
UNDER 16:
1st – Sebastian Williams
2nd – Ethan Fletcher
3rd – Jake Elkington
4th – Adin Masencamp
