A pair of second places gave Northland surfers Paul Moretti and Manu Scott-Arrieta bragging rights on the drive home from Mount Maunganui on Sunday. More importantly the pair have earned valuable points in the first of three events in the Billabong Grom Series, presented by Oceanbridge, at the Tay Street Beach. Afterwinning all of his heats on Saturday, Moretti was ambushed by local surfer Peri Matenga in the under-14 boys' division final. Matenga looked smooth on his backhand, successfully completing several longer rides to lock in scores of 6.50 and 5.50 for the win. Mimiwhangata's Moretti made a comeback late in the final scoring 5.90 on one wave to challenge Matenga. However, he was left chasing a 6.10 and ran out of time to finish in second place. He pushed Spaniard Marcilino Botin back into third place and was well ahead of Taranaki's Sean Kettle _ who had earlier beaten Moretti in the semifinal. The final day of the three-day event enjoyed a small increase in wave size and offshore winds but the surf remained under 1m high. Gisborne's Korbin Hutchings was the stand out grommet of the event. He stormed to victory with a 15.5 point heat total in the under-12 boys' final. On his backhand, Hutchings completed several big turns and floaters to post scores of 8.5 and 7.0 on his two scoring rides. Sandy Bay's Manu Scott-Arrieta also showed excellent form in the final and claimed his best-ever result with a second placing ahead of first time finalists Quin Matenga (Mount Maunganui) and Blake Haven (Muruwai) who finished third and fourth respectively. Raglan's Ben Poulter dominated his opponents Dune Kennings (Whangamata), Todd Doyle (Mount) and Piha's Waretini Wano to win the under-16 boys' final. Whangamata's Grace Spiers completed a come-back after injury by winning the under-16 girls' division. Jayda Martin-Fitzharris won the under-14 girls division while Gisborne's Dayna Story took her first ever win at a national level winning the under-12 girls' title. The winners of their divisions win tickets to Australia and entry in the Billabong Parko Grom Stomp on the Gold Coast. The next Billabong Grom Series Event is on February 6-8 in Whangamata.
