3 April 2012, Canggu-Bali: In a closely contest 30 minute final at Canggu’s famed rivermouth righthander, Mustofa Jeksen nabbed his second Oakley Pro win, narrowly defeating Made Awan in challenging 4-6 foot thumping surf to come home with 3,000 Coca-Cola ISC championship points and the winners check of Rp 15 million (approximately $1,650 USD).
Both competitors were previous Oakley Pro winners, Jeksen having won the inaugural event back in 2009, and Awan in 2010. Last year it was current Coca-Cola ISC champion Marlon Gerber who won the event.
Neither Jeksen or Awan had banner years in 2011, both just barely inside the top 16 in the rankings, so it was obvious they were hungry and committed to getting this year off to a good start.
Mustofa jumped into the lead and never looked back, catching 10 waves during the final while Awan took only half that many (5).
Due to the size of the waves, actually too big for perfect Canggu, the wave scores weren’t that high, with Mus’s best wave a 7.0 and Awan’s a 5.75. Frequent bombing 6ft+ sets had the boys paddling a lot, with only the medium and smaller waves offering up much scoring potential, but they both did a stellar job at finding some good waves and creating an exciting final.
As the 10-second countdown reached the 5 second mark, a nice medium set wave appeared and Awan paddled furiously toward it, but just as he turned and was paddling down the face the horn blew the end of the final. It was the wave he had needed, but just seconds too late.
The final score showed Mustofa ahead by just under a single point, 11.50 points to Awan’s 10.75, with Awan needing a 5.85 score to take the win. It was a hard fought battle with both surfers giving it their best, and on all accounts a fair and worthy matchup.
“This win means a lot to me,” said Jeksen back on the beach. “Last year was a tough one as I didn’t get many good results and I got dropped by my long time sponsor, but I knew I had to just focus and think about the future, not about the past. So now I’m back, Mustofa Jeksen is back, I’m a winner again, thanks to my family, my friends and my sponsors that support me. I really want to be Indonesian champion this year, that’s what my goal is now, so my season is getting a great start with this win.”
Awan was stoked with his second place finish, but also knowing that he had been just a few seconds away from the top podium spot and the winners check. “I was trying to be really patient out there and catch only waves that I thought I could score on,” he said. “But it was hard to choose the good ones with the big closeouts washing through, but I did my best and oh my God, if only that wave would have come a little sooner! I never surfed man-on-man against Mus before, so I was happy to be in the final with him. But ya, this is a great start of the year for me and so I’m looking forward to better year this year for sure.” Awan is without a major sponsor this year, after his previous sponsor shut down their operations in Indonesia.
The Coca-Cola ISC Masters Division saw Bali’s best over-35 year old surfers take to the challenging conditions, with Wayan Gantiyasa, Nyoman Wastika, Made Lapur, Ketut Sareng, Wayan Budaysa, 2011 Coca-Cola ISC Masters champ Ketut Wirtawan and 2010 champ Ketut Juliarta competing for their spot in the final.
The final was another closely contested battle with just a fraction of a point separating the winner and the runner up. At the horn it was Ketut Juliarta with 11.1 points (out of a possible 20), just holding off a charging Wayan Budaysa who finished with 11.0 points, Ketut Menda in third with 9.25 point and Ketut Wirtawan in fourth with 8.5.
Keepin’ it Green. As part of a combined effort between the Coca-Cola ISC and their event sponsors such as Oakley and the ROLE Foundation to lead by example in their mission to clean up Bali’s environment and reduce the carbon footprint, a tree planting project was initiated at this year’s Oakley Pro where in cooperation with the local community 30 trees were planted at strategic locations around Canggu Beach.
After the contest had wrapped up, Curtis Lowe from ROLE and the Pereranan Surf Club went to work finding some great spots for the trees and got them all nestled into their new homes in time to still get the afternoon glass off. Chief of Police Nyoman Suandi has promised to help the Pererenan Surf Club and the Canggu Surf Club coordinate and ensure that the trees are protected and watered regularly.
In addition, representatives from ROLE and GUS were at the beach each day before, during and after the event leading by example in educating the spectators and participants, and ensuring that the trash was put in the appropriate containers. Food for the contestants and crew was also served in banana leaf wrappings, and reusable plastic and aluminum containers used for drinks by the event staff and management.
The Coca-Cola ISC and Oakley would like to extend a special thanks to ROLE, GUS, Climate Dave, the Pererenan Surf Club, the Canggu Surf Club, the Canggu Green Community, and Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia for all their support and cooperation.
Check out the action from the Oakley Pro 2012 presented by San Miguel at:
The next stop on the Coca-Cola ISC tour is one of the best lefthanders in the world, Macaroni’s in the Mentawai Islands, so we’ll look forward to bringing you more action from the best Indonesia surfers in the best waves very soon, coming up on May 21-28!
Oakley Pro 2012 Open Division Results:
1st - Mustofa Jeksen
2nd - Made Awan
Equal 3rd - Lee Wilson and Darmaputra Tonjo
Oakley Pro 2012 Masters Division Results:
1st – Ketut Juliarta
2nd – Wayan Budiasa
3rd – Ketut Menda
4th – Ketut Wirtawan
Coca-Cola ISC Keepin’ it Green Award -
Mr. Nyoman Suandi (Chief of Police for the local Canggu District)
The Oakley Pro 2012 presented by San Mig Light is a 6-star dual sanctioned Coca-Cola ISC and ASC event, and is sponsored/supported by PowerAde, New Era, Cocoon, the Beat, and Indosurflife.com.
The Coca-Cola ISC Tour is sponsored by Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia, with media support by Surfersvillage.com, Baliwaves.com, Balibelly.com, Lines Magazine, SurfTime Magazine, Magic Wave, Alam TV Bali, the Outdoor Channel, and RVM, and environmental support in their Keepin’ it Green program from the ROLE Foundation, GUS, and Climate Dave.
Complimentary photos attached are for media use only- not to be used for commercial purposes. For high resolution photos please email tim@isctour.com (courtesy of Tim Hain - CC-ISC/ASC)
