Second to none

Mike Sciacca

“Huntington Beach, man, you gotta love it,” said a soaking wet,

albeit, obviously elated Taj Burrow, as he emerged from the water

Sunday, moments after winning the men’s title at the Honda U.S. Open

of Surfing presented by O’Neill.

A year after finishing second to Florida’s Cory Lopez, Burrow

found himself tied with Lopez for second-place Sunday, the two

trailing front-runner Trent Munro, in the waning moments of the last

30-minute heat, which was fought out in front of an estimated record

crowd of 100,000 at the Huntington Beach Pier.

But Burrow, who hails from western Australia, was the lone rider

on the last big break of the heat, and his score of 7.03 in the final

minutes was enough to catapult him past fellow Aussie Munro to his

first U.S. Open title.

“I tell ya mate, this is pretty awesome,” said Burrow, suddenly

surrounded by a media blitz that included television and newspaper

reporters from around the world. “It was anybody’s game and that last

wave was just enough to get me to the top.

“I was second last year, so to go one up and win the title this

year feels fantastic. This is one of the biggest contests in the

world, and it feels pretty good right now.”

Sunday’s surfing finals capped a nine-day stretch of the Bank of

the West Beach Games at the pier, which drew more than 600 world

class athletes.

Not only did fans pack the grandstands for the surfing aspect of

the games, they filled the Soul Bowl -- home to skateboard

competitions and exhibitions -- to its 3,000-seat capacity.

A King and Queen of the Beach volleyball tournament was added to

this year’s games, as was freestyle motocross.

“This was another great event here in Surf City,” said James

Leitz, vice president of International Management Group X Sports,

which oversees the beach games. “The crowd aspect is what we had

planned for and expected, and things went very smoothly.

“We were happy with the entire event, but very elated with the

response we got from the freestyle motocross demos. Not only were the

athletes terrific, but it was a hungry Huntington crowd that ate it

up. Those who attended this year’s games were really appreciative of

all the performances.”

Burrow, who also edged out Lopez as crowd favorite during a “beach

poll” taken during Sunday’s men’s final, nailed three solid turns

during his final ride en route to his 7.03 score, which came despite

sub-par water conditions.

He won $15,000 for his first-place finish.

Munro finished second, Lopez placed third and Hawaii’s Frederick

Patacchia, who was making his first appearance in a men’s final,

finished in fourth place.

Huntington’s biggest hurrah came from Timmy Reyes.

The 22-year-old, a graduate of Edison High School, ripped through

the early rounds of competition to win three heats and advance to the

semifinals.

Backed by a screaming home crowd, Reyes turned back two-time

defending world champion Andy Irons of Hawaii and former world

champion Tom Curren of Santa Barbara on Saturday.

Reyes had an overall heat point total of 12.93 to place ahead of

Irons, who finished with 12.50.

“[Irons] has been combo-ing me for the last few contests, so I

wanted this bad,” Reyes said.

Reyes, who is in Japan to compete at an Assn. of Surfing

Professionals six-star World Championship Tour event, then competed

in the first of two semifinal heats, and one that included Munro,

Lopez and Luke Stedman of Australia.

He finished fourth in that semifinal heat, from which Lopez and

Munro advanced to the final.

The U.S. Open men’s division started last Saturday with 272

competitors and more than 100 alternates.

Burrow was one of three first-time U.S. Open winners Sunday.

World Junior champion Adriano De Souza of Brazil dominated the

field to win the $10,000 Lost Pro Junior final.

De Souza took home $2,500 for his winning performance and finished

ahead of Hawaiians Dustin Cuizon and Kekoa Bacalso and fellow

countryman Jean Da Silva.

Bacalso was the two-time Pro Junior champion.

San Clemente’s Brendan White was the lone American to win a title

Sunday as he captured the $10,000 O’Neill U.S. Open of Longboarding

and its $2,500 top prize.

White, 24, finished ahead of another San Clemente standout, Colin

McPhillips -- whom White has competed against since childhood.

South Africa’s Matthew Moir was third and Australia’s Josh

Constable finished fourth.

“This is my ninth U.S. Open, so naturally my first win here feels

great,” White said of his victory. “For longboarding, there is no

other victory bigger in the world than this title. The event here in

Huntington is second to none. It’s professional, from top to bottom.

This is as big as it gets.”

Saturday proved doubly sweet for Australia’s Chelsea Georgeson,

who won the U.S. Open of Surfing’s women’s division.

Georgeson, who won the title for the second straight year, earned

$6,000 for her first-place finish.

She is only the second woman in history to win back-to-back U.S.

Open of Surfing titles. Australian Pauline Menczer became the first

woman in 2001 and 2002.

In the Soul Bowl, Costa Mesa’s Omar Hassan repeated as Young Guns

champion. In the Masters competition, won by San Diego’s Tony Mag,

Huntington Beach’s Dave Reul finished 12th. The Grand Masters winner

was Costa Mesa’s Duane Peters, with Surf City’s Jay “Alabamy” Haizlip

finishing 17th, and the winner of the Ladies competition was

Cara-Beth Burnside of Orange.

Tear down of the beach games site, which took up nearly 13 acres

of beach, began Sunday night. Only the surf grandstand and select

tents will remain on site for this weekend’s X Games surf competition

at the pier, Leitz said.

“It’s a big week of surfing here,” Leitz said. “The one thing I

did differently this year was attend the Surfers’ Hall of Fame

ceremonies. I always knew what surfing meant to this city, but by

attending the event, it gave me a different perspective and sense of

how soulful surfing is here, and how the community really embraces

the sport.

“I got a real feel for how proud this city is of its surfing

history and heritage, from the Op Pro, to the U.S. Open of Surfing.”