Spending a month this summer trekking around Indonesia with the likes of Rob Machado, Bobby Martinez, and Mick Fanning seems to be paying huge dividends for Tonino Benson. At the 2007 Billabong World Championships in Narrabeen, “Little Tony” proved that he’s not so little anymore. While the rest of the Hawaiian contingent was obliterated in the earlier rounds of the event, Tonino smashed the competetion in route to the final, where unfortunately a very in-form Pablo Paulino finally slowed him down. “He really showed a lot of growth this year,” explaines Dino Andino, who commentated the World Juniors. “His surfing was a lot more technically sound. His rail work and ability to do critical maneuvers at a high speed was impressive.” A key player in the recent rise of Big Island talent, the regularfooter, when he’s not traveling with the world’s best, spends his days surfing Shane Dorian’s old stomping grounds at Banyons. And like a lot of the young surfers who are just now really coming into their own, Tonino would rather let his surfing do the talking. On his Indo excursion with Rob, Bobby, and Mick, Tonino logged more water time than anybody, spending the better part of every day in the water. But then, at 19 years old, that’s exactly what he should be doing.