Local hero

Dodger Kremel took the ultimate joy ride of his young life Sunday.

The 22-year-old seemed unfazed by the stout field of accomplished finalists he was part of in winning the $10,000 O’Neill U.S. Open of Longboarding at the Huntington Beach Pier.

U.S. Open of Surfing records show that Kremel became the first Surf City athlete to win a U.S. Open competition. He was hoisted up on the shoulders of friends and carried up the jam-packed beach, where he accepted hearty congratulations from a sea of spectators.

“I’ve never been carried off like that before,” Kremel said. “I was really tripping out. To see all of my best, best friends at the shore was so crazy.”

Another winner Sunday was Rob Machado in the U.S. Open of Surfing men’s final. The victory made the 32-year-old from Cardiff — runner-up last year to 2005 champion Andy Irons of Hawaii — a three-time winner in the men’s division.

Earlier in the day, Ben Dunn of Australia and Tory Meister of Hawaii tied for the top spot with 16.00 points apiece in the $10,000 Lost Pro Junior final, but Dunn was awarded the title via tiebreaker.

On Saturday, former world champion Sofia Mulanovich of Peru won her first title in Surf City, the $30,000 Honda Women’s U.S. Open of the Surfing, and Lee Ann Curren — who resides in France and California and is the daughter of former world champion Tom Curren — won the $20,000 Target Women’s Junior Pro.

Stunningly, Kremel won the longboarding final with ease. He emerged the winner from an all-USA final that included perennial finalist Colin McPhillips of San Clemente, 2003 champion Taylor Jensen (Imperial Beach) and eight-time event winner Joel Tudor of San Diego.

Kremel totaled 18.60 points to easily finish ahead of McPhillips, the first U.S. Open of Longboarding champion in 1994 who placed runner-up in the event for the fifth time, this time with 15.13 points.

Jensen was third with 13.90 points and Tudor was fourth with a total of 13.57.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Kremel said, searching for words to describe his hometown triumph as he addressed a massive throng of spectators — an estimated record crowd of 105,000 attended Sunday’s surfing finals.

Kremel was nearly perfect at the end of the competition, weaving his way to a wave score of 9.83.

He earned $2,500 with the victory but didn’t credit his win to an advantage of surfing his home break.

“It’s all about getting the waves,” he said. “We’re all out there at the same time.”

Jensen, who was looking for his second title in four years, was pleased for Kremel.

“Dodger is one of my best friends,” he said. “He was there when I won this thing, and I’m stoked to be part of his win.”

The Bank of the West Games, featuring the Honda U.S. Open of Surfing presented by O’Neill, capped 11 days of competition on Sunday. More than 600 athletes competed in surfing, skateboarding, BMX, FMX and the Karch Kiraly Invitational beach volleyball tournament.

James Leitz, executive promoter of the games and vice president of International Management Group Action Sports, said that more than 400,000 spectators visited the 15 acres that housed the beach games.

Leitz said that the festival village set up at the south side of the pier will be completely torn down by Friday.

“It was bigger and better than last year,” he said of this year’s games. “It’s more than just the crowd size. From all indications, it was a success in terms of athletes’ satisfaction, spectator experience, response from our sponsors and feedback from the city. There were very few incidences. It all seemed very positive.

“It is amazing that we were able to build all of these facilities on 15 acres of beach. It’s a testament to the city. The epitome of Surf City USA certainly was on display.”