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ustralian surfer Davey Cathels has topped the ASP World Junior Tour ranking, thanks to his victory at the recent Oakley World Pro Junior in Bali.

Cathels defeated Andrew Doheny of the US in an epic final at Pererenan Beach in Canggu, North Kuta, on Tuesday.

As the first of three competitions in the ASP World Junior Tour, the Canggu event plays a vital role in determining the ASP World Junior Champion. With critical rating points on the line, the remaining competitors held nothing back for an exciting final day of competition.

The final heat had the crowd on the black sand on their feet as the two surfers battled it out in a flurry of sets, carving and slashing the long right-handers.

It was Cathels, who stood up and snatched the win, gouging a couple of monster turns and launching into a massive lien air to score a near perfect 9.63 (out of a possible 10) to shut the door on Doheny’s Oakley World Pro Junior title hopes.

With his 10,000 ratings points, Cathels won US$25,000 and the lead in the ASP World Junior Title Race.

“This is the biggest win of my career! I wasn’t feeling much pressure when I was chasing that big score at all. I’m always more nervous watching other people compete than when I’m actually doing it myself,” Cathels said.

“I’ve been having good surfs all week and I knew if I got the right waves I could get the score. I still can’t believe I won. I’m so stoked!”

Cathels plans to skip the next ASP World Pro Junior event in Brazil and enter an ASP Prime event in Santa Cruz, California.

Doheny, with his stylish and unpredictable approach, gets the runner-up position, taking home $10,000 and 8,000 points toward the 2011 ASP World Junior Title Race.

“I’m super stoked because I’m not the best contest surfer. I came here last year and lost in the first round, so I said to myself as long as I win that heat I’ll be happy, and then I ended up getting second. I did a lot better than I thought,” he said.

Garrett Parkes from Australia lost the all Australian Semifinal against Cathels. The pair went wave for wave, turn for turn in a very evenly matched affair, but Parkes was left needing a score when the ocean went flat in the last 10 minutes of the heat. Parkes goes home with an equal third place finish, $5,000 and 6,500 ASP World Junior Tour rating points.

Meanwhile, Oakley’s team surfer Conner Coffin from the US was eliminated in the next semifinal by fellow American, Doheny. The heat started slow, but finished on a high note with both surfers putting it all on the line with two big exchanges during the final minutes of the heat.

Coffin held the precarious lead coming out of the water, but everyone on the beach held their breath in anticipation as the judges presided over the final exchange. When it was ultimately announced that Doheny had dropped a massive 8.07 on his final wave to reclaim the lead the crowd went wild.