The storm that has battered the upper North Island this week looked set to disrupt the third and final event of the Billabong Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge at Mount Maunganui yesterday.

However, after torrential rain ushered in the day, the skies cleared to allow New Zealand's top junior surfers a chance to surf off for titles across six age group divisions.

The forecasted strong onshore winds never eventuated leaving a somewhat clean 1.0m – 1.5m swell all day with light onshore winds.

Title races in all six divisions remain tight after the first day of action, despite the odd upset result keeping all the hopefuls on edge.

The top seeds of the Under 20 Boys Division have set up a massive semifinal. Semifinal 1 sees local surfer and Under 18 National Champion Jonas Tawharu set to take on top seed and winner of the first event Harrison Whiteside (Chch) as well as Taylor Hutchison (Rag), who won the second event as well as dark horse Reef Matthews (Tara).

Hutchison forced the big showdown after placing second in his heat behind Manu Scott-Arrieta (Sandy Bay) who posted the day's highest score of 16.0 points out of a possible 20.

Scott-Arrieta was in exceptional form and he now faces Callum Chuter (TGA), Harry Macintosh (Waiheke) and Eli Voschezang (Auck) in the second semifinal for a podium finish opportunity.

The Under 17 Girls Division saw the biggest upset of the day with two-time finalist and winner of the first event of the series, Saffi Vette (Gis), being eliminated in the first round. Local surfer Kea Smith surfed a smart heat picking up several long waves to win the heat with event-two finalist Aimee Brown (Grt Barrier) relying on big powerful turns out the back to progress in second place.

The result pushes Elin Tawharu (Mnt) closer to the series title with a finals berth today being enough to see the job through. Tawharu's closest rival is another Mount Maunganui surfer in Tiana-Breeze de Mooij who will need to win the event and have Tawharu lose in the semis just to equal her on points.

Series front runner in the Under 14 Boys Division, Tom Butland (Oakura) continued his excellent form advancing through to the quarterfinals with the top score in the first round. Butland posted a 14.33 point heat total including an 8.87 point ride for his typical big-manoeuvre performance. Butland was joined by his biggest rivals for the series including Josef Jungwirth (Rag), James Ririnui (Mnt), Kora Cooper (Rag) and Jack Hinton (Mnt) who all won their heats.

Ariana Shewry (Oakura) got the better of the exchange with Brie Bennett (Rag) in the Under 14 Girls Division advancing through to the semifinals with a 14.33 point heat total compared with Bennett's 9.07. The two surfers have traded blows the entire season and all things going to plan will meet each other in yet another final if they advance through the semifinals this morning.

Action is set to take place at Tay Street from 8am – 4pm today, with finals scheduled for 1pm.