Honda U.S. Open of Surfing
Presented by O'Neill

Men's 6 Star WQS Event #22
Women's 6 Star WQS Event #22
Grade 2 Men's ASP Junior Event
Huntington Beach California
18 - 27 July 2008

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

Charlie Brown Leads Opening Round of GO211 LIVE feat. the Honda U.S. Open

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 21 July, 2008 : - - Huntington Beach -- The GO211 LIVE featuring the Honda U.S. Open of Surfing presented by O’Neill saw the completion of the Round of 192 today starting out in improved three-to-five foot (1metre) conditions at south Huntington Beach Pier before deteriorating this afternoon.

The opening round of competition marks the beginning of the biggest event held in North America the ASP WQS 6-Star event offers valuable ratings points towards qualification of the 2009 ASP World Tour.

Charlie Brown (Sao Paulo, BRA) put on an awesome display of surfing today, netting the day’s highest single wave score of 9.67, following up with a second wave score of a 7.00, each out of possible 10. The fleet-footed Brazilian’s impressive surfing garnered him the day’s highest heat total of 16.67 out of possible 20.

“I think the conditions are pretty good,” Brown said. “This is my first time in the United States and I’m so happy to get two big scores right away and advance into the next round.” Brown’s outstanding performance eliminated current No. 2 on the ASP North America Pro Junior Series Travis Beckmann (Vero Beach, FL) and 2008 O’Neill U.S. Open Pro Junior finalist Nat Young (Santa Cruz, CA) from the men’s event.

Shane Beschen (San Clemente, CA), who is a former U.S. Open champion, proved to be a top performer today, posting one of the day’s highest heat totals of 16.00 out of 20 points. The former ASP World Tour veteran will look to use his years of competitive experience to help him advance through the early rounds of competition.

“Everyone surfs good in these contests, so it’s just a matter of doing your own thing,” Beschen said. “You’ve just got to try and get two waves, do some good moves on them and that’s about all you can do. It doesn’t really matter who you’ve got because everyone out there is trying for the same thing. It’s just a matter of a little bit of positioning and a little bit of luck, and not falling when you get a good one.”

Beschen will compete in a stacked heat tomorrow against current ASP WQS No. 62 Mike Losness (San Clemente, CA), former ASP World Tour standout Cory Lopez (Dana Point, CA) and Kyle Knox (San Diego, CA) in the Round of 144.

Nick Rozsa (Ventura, CA) kept his U.S. Open campaign alive today with a last minute effort, posting a solid score of 8.83 out of possible 10 in the final seconds of his Round 1 heat. Rozsa’s final wave pushed him from third place into first over Brandon Ragenovich (San Clemente, CA), who advanced in second.

“Today’s really hard,” Rozsa said. “There’s a gnarly current running into the pier, and if you catch a wave you’ve got to get out and run back up the beach. It’s tiring, but you get back out in the water faster, and get back into position faster that way.” Rozsa’s Round 1 victory today marks an impressive showing from the young natural-footer, as Rozsa began in the early rounds in the men’s trials to earn a spot in the main event.

“I’m tired, because I’ve been going non stop for the last three days,” Rozsa said. “It does help to surf a lot of heats though because it gets you in rhythm and gets your head on straight. Everyone surfs so good in this event, so it’s a hard event. You’ve just got to know the wave, get lucky and hope the right waves come to you.”

Competition will continue tomorrow with the Round of 144 with ASP World Tour surfers Ben Bourgeois (Wrightsville Beach, NC), Timmy Reyes (Huntington Beach, CA), Aritz Aranburu (Zarautz, EUK) and Roy Powers (Hanelei, HI) tackling today’s standouts. Top North American surfers Losness, Lopez, Eric Geiselman (New Smyrna Beach, FL) and Gabe Kling (St. Augustine, FL) will be featured in the Round of 144 as well.

For information on GO211 LIVE featuring the Honda U.S. Open of Surfing presented by O’Neill log on to usopenofsurfing.com. For more information log onto aspnorthamerica.org or aspworldtour.com.

GO211 LIVE featuring the Honda U.S. Open presented by O’Neill Results:

Round of 192 (1st and 2nd advance)
Heat 1: Kieran Horn (USA) 12.43, Pablo Gutierrez (ESP) 10.27, Antonio Bortoletto (ZAF) 9.34, Dane Johnson (USA) 7.23
Heat 2: Dunga Neto (BRA) 13.17, Jacob Kirschenbaum (USA) 11.67, Michael Spencer (USA) 10.73, Michael Marjanovic
Heat 3: Dusty Payne (HAW) 11.70, Chad Compton (USA) 10.86, Daniel Jones (HAW) 6.30, Josh Montgomery (USA) 5.53
Heat 4: Teppei Tajima (JPN) 13.33, David Rutheford (MEX) 13.33, Matt King (USA) 8.83, Wesley Larsen (HAW) 6.70
Heat 5: Jesse Heilman (USA) 12.37, Ricky Whitlock (USA) 9.40, Granger Larson (HAW) 9.33, Luke Davis (USA) 9.03
Heat 6: Micah Byrne (USA) 15.17, Tommy O’Brien (USA) 10.00, Adam Virs (USA) 8.84, Gilmar Silva (BRA) 8.84
Heat 7: Paulo Moura (BRA) 14.40, Killian Garland (USA) 12.50, Devon Tresher (USA) 11.43, Rylan McCart 11.27
Heat 8: Nick Rozsa (USA) 14.83, Brandon Ragenovich (USA) 14.50, James Wood (AUS) 13.17, Mason Ho (USA) 6.47
Heat 9: Shane Beschen (USA) 16.00, Brad Ettinger (USA) 11.33, Magnum Martinez (USA) 11.17, Chase Wilson (USA)
Heat 10: Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 12.24, Kyle Knox (USA) Bobby Morris (USA) 10.47, Matt Mohagen (USA) 7.94
Heat 11: Asher Nolan (USA) 11.60, Zach Keenan (USA) 10.17, Shaun Burrell (USA) 9.83, Kyle Garson (USA) 3.80
Heat 12: Justin Mujica (PRT) 12.17, Macy Mullen (HAW) 7.94, Jason Collins (USA) 7.84, Ezra Sitt (HAW) 5.10
Heat 13: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 15.34, Quinn McCrystal (USA) 11.67, Cordell Miller (USA) 7.86, Cory Whitlock (USA) 5.84
Heat 14: Ola Elogram (HAW) 13.67, Izuki Tanaka (JPN) 12.90, Kai Barger (HAW) 12.47, Cory Arrambide (USA) 8.77
Heat 15: Charlie Brown (USA) 16.67, Sean Maceron (USA) 12.17, Travis Beckmann (USA) 11.26, Nat Young (USA) 9.30
Heat 16: Wesley De Souza (USA) 11.83, Torrey Meister (HAW) 11.16, Tyler Anderson (USA) 9.33, Kevin Kapsky (HAW)
Heat 17: Kyle Ramey (HAW) 12.50, Michael Hoisington (USA) 9.34, Marcelo Trekinho (BRA) 9.14, Sebastian Zietz (HAW)
Heat 18: Kiron Jabour (HAW) 15.67, Khy Vaughan (AUS) 10.23, Chris Drummy (USA) 9.03, Che Stang (USA) 7.20
Heat 19: Brent Reilly (USA) 14.00, Sean Moody (HAW) 11.50, Danilo Costa (BRA) 8.17, Jason Shibata (HAW) 8.16
Heat 20: Alex Smith (HAW) 15.50, Blake Howard (USA) 12.10, Dane Ward (USA) 8.66, Kellen Ellison (USA) 7.10
Heat 21: Blake Jones (USA) 13.05, Gavin Beschen (HAW) 11.66, Robin Frederic (REU) 10.77, Dylan Graves (PRI) 9.83
Heat 22: Jesse Merle-Jones (HAW) 12.83, Romain Cloitre (FRA) 12.50, Cody Thompson (USA) 7.87, Ted Navarro (USA)
Heat 23: Nils Schweizer (USA) 11.00, Julian Wilson (AUS) 9.6, Dylan Melamed (HAW) 8.87, Richie Collins (USA) 7.77
Heat 24: Abdel El Harim (MOR) 11.77, Casey Brown (HAW) 11.70, Tyler Stanaland (USA) 10.50, Shea Lopez (USA) 7.87

Schedule of events

www.go211.com
www.aspworldtour.com
www.aspnorthamerica.org
www.usopenofsurfing.com

Survey: Map Surfing’s Future 

More USA/Cen Amer. surfing news available here                                                                        
Check the latest West Coast Surf Reports and Forecasts

New! B2B News ASBE-Surf   |  Receive News-Alerts

ASP International
Dave Prodan
dave@aspworldtour.com

ASP North America
Bobby Shadley
bobby@aspworldtour.com

Team MKM
Mike Kingsbury
mike@teammkm.com

WQS Contests - Surfersvillage