2006 Vans Pro WQS 1-Star - Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach, CA – Huntington Beach’s Brett Simpson goes ballistic in the final to take home the inaugural Vans Pro Championship. Running in conjunction with the men’s event, the Lost Pro Junior and O’Neill Women’s Pro crowned Eric Geiselman (New Smyrna Beach) and Karina Petroni (Atlantic Beach) as their respective champs.

Sunday morning saw clean three to four-foot peaks gracing the site of the Association of Surfing Professional (ASP) WQS two-star Vans Pro. With a $25,000 prize purse on offer, competitors in the men’s division blitzed through the quarters and semis en route to the final.

San Clemente’s Nathan Yeomans looked to be the form surfer of the event taking out both his quarter-final and semi-final heats.

“I’m psyched I got two waves at the beginning. I really couldn’t hear the scores out there, but Micah (Byrne) paddled out and filled me in,” Yeomans said of his semi-final heat.

Micah Byrne (Huntington Beach) and Jason Collins (Santa Cruz) quietly worked their ways through heats on their own paths to the finals – Byrne drawing his powerful lines and Collins with his aerial mastery.

Although the thousands of spectators on the beach were treated to a stacked final, it was HB’s Simpson who dominated by posting the highest wave and heat score of the event. Simpson opened up his finals account by posting an excellent 9.25 score out of a possible 10 with a massive aerial followed by a series of turns.

The other finalists scrambled before Simpson shut the door with a huge, semi-inverted 360 air to rack up a devastating 9.85 out of 10. With a combined heat score of 19.10 out of a possible 20, Simpson took home the Vans Pro Championship, the $5,000 first place check, as well as valuable ratings points for the ASP WQS.

Atlantic Beach’s Karina Petroni scalped the ASP WQS one-star O’Neill Pro title in a high-scoring shootout with Julia Christian (Carlsbad).

Hurley's Brett Simpson.

Christian is North America’s sole World Championship Tour (WCT) representative, and her experience at the elite level showed today as she threw down some big scores in the final to log in a 14.75 out of a possible 20.

Although Christian surfed brilliantly, it was Petroni who logged in an 8.00 wave score out of a possible 10 with just five minutes left to capture the O’Neill Women’s Pro. In addition to valuable ratings points towards her ASP WQS ranking, Petroni also grabs the $2,000 first place check.

Rounding out the event was the Lost Pro Junior which featured some of the best up-and-coming surfers in North America. With several surfers competing in both the men’s and junior’s events, the final at the Lost Pro Junior was an exhibition in phenomenal surfing.

Nick Rozsa (Oxnard) surfed heroically winning his quarter-final heat and finishing runner-up in his semi-final despite nursing a severely-injured foot.

“I decided to surf the day before the competition, and I surfed in front of my house, and I injured my foot pretty badly. I air-dropped inside the barrel and landed on my board, and it compressed against my foot. My big toe ended up bending all the way over to the side of my foot. I tore a couple of ligaments and the cartilage – it’s just really hard to surf,” Rozsa said.

Cory Arrambide (Ventura) and Dylan Graves (Puerto Rico) both surfed well beyond their young years and looked poised to win the final. However, it was New Smyrna Beach’s Eric Geiselman who surfed brilliantly to claim the Lost Pro Junior title.

Thanks to all our competitors and event sponsors for such an amazing contest. The next event on the ASP North American tour will be the four-star Body Glove Surfbout beginning at Lower Trestles on April 25. See you there.

Results:
ASP WQS Two-Star Vans Pro – Quarter-finals, Semi-finals, Finals
Quarter-final 1: 15.75 Heath Walker (AUS), 12.00 Tanner Gudauskas (USA), 10.65 Asher Nolan (USA), 7.90 Kyle Knox (USA)
Quarter-final 2: 13.25 Nathan Yeomans (USA), 12.55 Micah Byrne (USA), 10.00 Anthony Petruso (USA), 5.65 Dane Gudauskas (USA)
Quarter-final 3: 10.00 Killian Garland (USA), 9.25 Matt Keenan (USA), 7.15 Pat O’Connell, 4.15 Jason Miller (USA)
Quarter-final 4: 15.00 Brett Simpson (USA), 9.50 Jason Collins (USA), 8.60 Eric Geiselman (USA), 8.10 Jesse Evans (USA)
Semi-finals
Semi-finals 1: 17.25 Nathan Yeomans (USA), Micah Byrne (USA), 10.50 Tanner Gudauskas (USA), 10.00 Heath Walker (AUS)
Semi-final 2: 17.75 Brett Simpson (USA), 9.60 Jason Collins (USA), 9.55 Killian Garland (USA), 8.15 Matt Keenan (USA)

Final:
1 – 19.10 Brett Simpson (USA) $5,000
2 – 13.00 Nathan Yeomans (USA) $2,500
3 – 9.50 Micah Byrne (USA) $2,000
4 – 8.65 Jason Collins (USA) $1,500

ASP Grade-Two Lost Pro Junior – Quarter-finals, Semi-finals, Finals
Quarter-final 1: 15.25 Nick Rozsa (USA), 9.50 Killian Garland (USA), 9.25 Kevin Sullivan (USA), 7.35 Logan Strook (USA)
Quarter-final 2: 15.25 Eric Geiselman (USA), 11.90 Hank Gaskell (HAW), 10.75 Chris Waring (USA), 5.50 Eddie Guilbeau (USA)
Quarter-final 3: 10.30 Dylan Graves (PRI), 10.30 Sterling Spencer (USA), 9.50 Nico Becerra (PER), 8.50 Brandon Ragenovich (USA)
Quarter-final 4: 15.75 Tanner Gudauskas (USA), 14.00 Cory Arrambide (USA), 9.25 Jesse Heilman (USA), 6.65 Ian Ekberg (USA)

Semi-final 1: 14.75 Eric Geiselman (USA), 14.10 Nick Rozsa (USA), 9.85 Hank Gaskell (HAW), 8.10 Killian Garland (USA)
Semi-final 2: 16.75 Cory Arrambide (USA), 12.25 Dylan Graves (PRI), 8.75 Tanner Gudauskas (USA), 6.95 Sterling Spencer (USA)

Final:
1 – 12.25 Eric Geiselman (USA) $2,000
2 – 11.85 Nick Rozsa (USA) $900
3 – 10.00 Cory Arrambide (USA) $600
4 – 7.90 Dylan Graves $500

ASP WQS One-Star O’Neill Women’s Pro

Final:
1 – 15.25 Karina Petroni (USA) $2,000
2 – 14.75 Julia Christian (USA) $900
3 – 7.35 Lindsey Baldwin (USA) $600
4 – 6.20 Tammy Smith (ZAF) $500