By KELLY EXELBY
Gisborne's Buck Woods surfed his way to his first ever win in the under-16 boys' division at the Billabong Grom Series at Mount Maunganui.
The ever-confident Woods was on fire all weekend - and it showed through in the final as he opened with a 7.0 point ride. From
there Woods never looked back as he strengthened his lead to post a finals score of 11.0.
The swell remained 0.5m-1.0m all day under a light onshore, Woods describing conditions as "custard" but saying he was pleased with his performances throughout the day.
"Surfing in those conditions I am pretty stoked right now. I made sure I was getting the bigger, better waves all day because I knew that was what was required to win and the tactic paid off."
Taranaki's Keone Campbell was second, posting huge scores all weekend but dipping out on the best waves in the 25-minute final.
Mount Maunganui's Matt Hewitt was third, also unable to find the longer waves where he could link up more than a couple of turns. Hewitt has stormed on to the national scene, with this event being only his second at a national level.
No 1 seed Paige Hareb (Taranaki) dominated the under-16 girls' final to rack up yet another win. All four finalists found the going tough in the deteriorating conditions but it was Hareb's combined heat total of 9.50 that saw her home over Grace Spiers (Whangamata), Muriwai's India-Wray Murane and the Mount's Anna Hadfield.
Gisborne's Land'em Collier left it late to clinch the under-14 boys' title, Whangamata's Blake Myers leading the final before Collier surged back with three minutes to go to sieze the lead.
Grace Spiers rampaged through the under-14 girls' final, while Tane Wallis took out the under-12 boys' title, with the Mount's Peri Matenga carving his way into fourth.
