| Joel Centeio wins the 2009 Reef Hawaiian Pro |
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| Monday, 23 November 2009 17:16 |
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Patience and faith in his home break of Haleiwa delivered local boy Joel Centeio the biggest victory of his career today, winning the Reef Hawaiian Pro in 6- to 8-foot surf with a late barrel ride and only the mandatory two waves to his credit. Joel, 26, came from the very first round, winning all seven heats he contested. He now takes an early lead on the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing presented by Rockstar Energy Drink series ratings. His win today earned him $20,000. If he can stay the course and win the Vans Triple Crown series title, it will pay another $50,000 as well as a $10,000 custom Nixon watch. Runner-up in the final was Florida’s CJ Hobgood, third was Australian Jay "Bottle" Thompson, 27, and fourth was Tahiti’s Alain Riou. Hobgood and Thompson were always within striking distance - requiring less than a 7.0 point ride to turn the tables - but Haleiwa chose to favor her own. While the win catapulted Centeio from 131st on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) ratings to 51st, he still has no chance of qualifying for the 2010 ASP Dream Tour. Even though it didn’t end in a win, Thompson (Burleigh Heads, QLD) was satisfied with third, qualifying for the 2010 ASP Dream Tour with this result. "I feel pretty relaxed actually," said Thompson. "This kind of solidified my campaign for the tour next year. I’m frothing, but really relaxed now. This year and last year I’ve been a replacement so I’ve been in every event (of the Dream Tour), but I’ve been kind of bogging so I really wanted to get back there and give it a 100 percent next year." Californian Nathan Yeomans also did enough today to qualify for the 2010 ASP Dream Tour, moving to sixth place on the WQS ratings with his quarter final finish. He ended the event in equal 9th position, losing to Hobgood and Riou. The upset of the day was world title contender Joel Parkinson’s loss in the quarter finals. While the Reef Hawaiian Pro does not affect the world title race, Parkinson had been the standout, posting the two highest heat scores of the event as well as the only perfect 10 point ride (a deep barrel in the round of 32 today), as well as the second-highest score of the event, a 9.87. Parkinson succumbed to a lack of waves on offer in his quarter final heat. The VANS Triple Crown of Surfing now moves along the North Shore to Sunset Beach for stop #2: the O’Neill World Cup of Surfing, and the women’s Gidget Pro Sunset Beach. The holding period for Sunset officially commences tomorrow, running through December 6, however organizers anticipate a Wednesday start, coinciding with the arrival of potentially the biggest swell of the winter so far. Check Surfline.com for up-to-the-minute surf fores. Find out the call for the day, each day, as soon as it’s made by Director Randy Rarick by signing up for mobile text alerts at triplecrownofsurfing.com. When competition resumes, all the action will be broad live on the web at triplecrownofsurfing.com, as well as on Hawaii television on Oceanic channel 250.
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