Top Surfers Come Tumbling Down In Tour’s Most Upset-Filled Day : Surfing: Beschen, Brown and Lambresi all lose in the first heats of Oceanside Open.
The second day of summer brought clear skies and plenty of sunshine to the main event first round of the $35,000 Body Glove Oceanside Open surf contest at the Oceanside Pier.
Proverbial black clouds, however, were evident and ruined the day for the top three seeded entrants.
No. 1 Shane Beschen of San Clemente, winner of last month’s contest at Imperial Beach and the current points leader in the Professional Surfing Assn. of America finished third among four in Heat No. 8 and he was out.
No. 2 Chris Brown of Santa Barbara, the defending champion of this tournament, finished last in Heat No. 9 and he was out.
And No. 3 Mike Lambresi of Carlsbad, a three-time U.S. champion, was third in Heat No. 16 and he was out.
Only the top two in each heat advanced to the second round, in which four heats were concluded Saturday afternoon. The other four will be contested this morning.
Upsets are a daily occurrence in professional surfing, but never in the five-year history of the Bud Pro Surfing Tour have the top three seeded riders gone down in their first heat.
“If it’s happened before, I’m not aware of it,” said Midget Smith, who has been the head judge for each of the seven years of the PSAA.
Lambresi was upset mostly with himself.
“I’m furious,” he said. “This is the second contest in a row and three out of five that this has happened to me. It’s stupid. I can’t believe I can’t go out there and get four good waves in a heat. There’s no reason, after doing this every day for 10 or 15 years, I can’t go out and get a few good waves.”
Lambresi, 27, who dominated the tour from 1987 to 1989, was ousted by Laguna Beach’s Jeff Booth, currently ranked eighth on the Assn. of Surfing Professionals World Tour, and Carlsbad’s Taylor Knox, who turned professional one year ago.
Knox and Booth, Nos. 1 and 2 respectively in Friday’s final round of trials, will meet for the third time this morning in the second half of the second round heats.
Cardiff’s Rob Machado, who finished second here last year, also advanced to today’s second round with a victory in Heat No. 14. Machado, 17, is the highest ranking amateur (22nd) in the PSAA.
Oceanside’s Sean Mattison and Chuy Reyna each advanced with first round victories but were eliminated Saturday afternoon.
Mattison finished third in a close heat behind Chris Frohoff (Manhattan Beach) and Jeff Deffenbaugh (Huntington Beach). Reyna finished last in his heat in which Ted Robinson (Manhattan Beach) and Richie Collins (Newport Beach) advanced to the quarterfinals.
Bobby Lockhart (Huntington Beach), Matt Archbold (San Clemente), Greg Anderson (Australia) and Marty Thomas (Long Beach) were the other quarterfinalists determined Saturday.
In the Easy Rider Bodyboarding Division, Paul Roach of Encinitas and Manny Vargas of Imperial Beach advanced to today’s quarterfinals with second-place finishes on Saturday. At No 8, Vargas is the highest-ranking San Diego County contestant. Roach is No. 21.
Anaheim’s Mike Stewart, the four-time defending U.S. champion and the winner of this event last year, advanced by beating Vargas and two others.
Six of the top seven body boarders won their heats on Saturday.
Surfing Notes
The $35,000 Body Glove Oceanside Open continues this morning at 7:30. Today’s finals are scheduled to begin around 1 p.m. . . . Ian Cairns, who founded the Assn. of Surfing Professionals World Tour in 1983 and spent four years as the ASP’s executive director, has been hired as a consultant for the Bud Pro Surfing Tour. Cairns, 38, a native of Australia, was also the executive director of the National Scholastic Surfing Assn. from 1980-86 and initiated the world’s first international judging program.
More to Read
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.