Katin’s return a success

A local champ, a perfect-10 score, great conditions and an exciting two days of competition made up the RC’s Katin Pro/Am Team Challenge, presented by Jack’s Surf Shop.

The two-day competition, at the north side of the Huntington Beach Pier, wrapped up Jan. 21.

In the Pro/Am event, Huntington Beach’s Brett Simpson took the title and the $4,000 first-place prize that went with it. Simpson, who turned 24 earlier this month, was able to knock off Rob Machado (Cardiff), Chris Waring (Seal Beach) and Jesse Evans (Huntington Beach) in the four-man final.

“It’s a great contest to win and a great way to start the New Year,” Simpson said. “Going into it, I knew how prestigious the event had been in the past. I just wanted to do really well since this is its first year back in about 10 years.”

Simpson began the year with an equal fifth-place finish at a four-star World Qualifying Series event in Florida in early-January. He said he won’t compete again until mid-March when he heads to Tasmania and Australia.

“I came into this thing really loose and had a good time,” he said of the Katin event. “I’m stoked about the win.”

Simpson, in fact, was a double-winner during the contest. He, along with Machado, Brad Ettinger and Brandon Guilmette, made up Team Hurley, which won the team competition. The first-place team earned a two-page spread in an upcoming issue of Surfing magazine.

The event, originally known as the Katin Pro/AmTeam Challenge, was founded in 1977 by Nancy Katin. The event ran uninterrupted through 1989, went into a two-year hiatus until it resumed in 1992 and then had a run for seven more years. Huntington Beach’s Jeff Deffenbaugh was the event’s last title winner in 1998.

Past competitions attracted some of the world’s elite surfers, such as Larry Berleman, Joey Buran, Michael Ho, Mark Richards, Mark Occhilupo and Mark Richards, as well as up-and-coming surfers Machado, Shane Beschen, Pat O’Connell, Chris Brown and Peter Mel. Past winners have included world champions Shaun Thomson, Tom Curren, Martin Potter, Sunny Garcia and Kelly Slater.

“It’s great to add my name to a list that includes Kelly Slater, Tom Curren and the likes,” Simpson said. “That’s good company. It’s also great to have someone like Rob (Machado) come out for this again. He’s such a high-profile name.”

Simpson, a Huntington Beach High graduate, gave a dominating performance in the competition, but in the final, he had to withstand strong performances by Machado, Waring and Evans to take the title.

Ten minutes into the final, Machado barreled, followed by a carving cutback to earn a perfect-10 score.

“When someone scores a 10, you pretty much are behind the 8-ball,” Simpson said. “I knew it would be tough, but I was able to come right back with a big score of my own. I held on from there.”

Following Machado’s perfect score, Simpson responded by landing a giant air that got him a 9.53 score. Combined with a previous 8.50 score, he had the victory.

By sticking an air reverse in the final, Waring was awarded $500 for the “Most Futuristic” maneuver award, presented by Future Fins honoring the late Mike Morgan of Huntington Beach.

Following Hurley in the team standings were Reef, Darkside and Fox. Reef received a one-page ad in Surfing magazine and both Darkside and Fox received a $1,000 digital ad campaign.

Team standings were based on the individual performances of each team’s athletes.

“It was an awesome event,” said Scott Waring, marketing director for Katin. “To bring back the Katin event, after a 10-year hiatus, for our 50th anniversary has been amazing. We were blessed with the best possible conditions, and Nancy (Katin) and Mike Morgan’s spirits were certainly with us. We’re just so stoked.”

MIKE SCIACCA covers sports. He can be reached at (714) 966-4611 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.