|
No one surfs Lighthouse better than Brett Barley. No
one surfs Bay Head better than Sam Hammer. And no one — and I mean no one — surfs HB Pier better than
Brett Simpson.
Except for maybe Evan Geiselman. He might surf the
place a little better than Simpo.
Not all the time, of course. Just when it’s shitty… and there’s a big contest
going on. And there’s World Champs in the water. And there’s lefty ramps
beckoning inches from barnacle-encrusted pilings.
Setting up at the south side of those
pilings, last week’s ASP PRIME U.S. Open of Surfing presented by Hurley and
Nike 6.0 naturally featured 33 ASP Dream Tour competitors in the Men’s draw.
And Simpson — a 25-year-old Dream Tour rookie and the freckled face of
Huntington Beach — beat them all. This weekend, in front of God and country
and Bob Hurley, Simpson crushed current ASP World #1 Jordy Smith in the final,
13.97 – 8.33, to take his second consecutive U.S. Open title (and his
second consecutive $100,000 prize check) at his flawed homebreak, giving him
some crucial breathing room in the ASP World Ranking.
As far as Right Coast representation,
our HB showing could’ve been far worse. Happily recovered from a knee injury,
Puerto Rican titan Dylan Graves survived the Round of 128 along with New Smyrna
Beach, FL, full-package Eric Geiselman and Vero Beach, FL, game-shaker Oliver
Kurtz. Kurtz’s performance here was particularly mesmerizing. Slipping into the
comp as an alternate, the kid straight merc’d Hawaiian 2000 ASP World Champion
Sunny Garcia, exploding from 4th to 1st on one good left and foiling an
otherwise predictable personality by giving the most self-effacing beachside interview
of the event. “I’ve never made a 6-star PRIME heat before, so I was just like,
‘I’m probably gonna lose,’” laughed Kurtz about his not-so-lofty expectations.
“I don’t have a lot of confidence coming into heats. I’m stoked, though. I
wanted to claim [that heat-deciding left against Sunny], but I’m not that kind
of guy.”
Whatever kind of guy he’s trying to
be, Kurtz nonetheless accumulated 12.66 points to get through the Round of 96 beside
nine-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater and St. Augustine, FL, re-animator
Gabe Kling. Meanwhile, Graves and Geiselgrease got goosed that same round along
with both Hobgood brothers. CJ’s dismissal was particularly disturbing, as the
2001 ASP World Champion and former U.S. Open victor faced an unlikely rival in
Main Event wildcard and New Smyrna Beach sure-thing Evan Geiselman. Rewarded an
8.60 for a single maneuver, albeit a nauseatingly large frontside air-reverse, Evan
was pretty much impervious from the start. “Any time you catch a wave in the
beginning of the heat and get an 8 it helps,” Evan said. “But my legs were
still shaking because I knew the guys in that heat were so good. That was the
biggest heat of my life surfing against CJ and beating him. Being from Florida,
he’s someone that I’ve looked up to. I was just stoked to have a heat with him,
but I’m really happy to have won it.”
However, another Floridian-goofyfoot-turned-Dream-Tour-veteran
who’s won this event before, Cory Lopez, clipped Evan’s wings in the Round of
24, but not before dishing out some serious props. “The kid is pulling off the
most insane airs,” Cory applauded. “He landed two or three that he wasn’t
supposed to make in that heat against Mick Fanning [Round of 48] and I was
nervous watching him, like, ‘Dude, I’m gonna lose to this grom from my home,
Florida, and he’s only 17’ [laughs]… And I just took three years off and
I’m looking to re-qualify for the tour next year. So I had a lot of pressure.”
Cory dealt with the pressure like a choke
valve — cutting off Evan’s air supply with his own specially branded
backside air-reverses. Meanwhile, Gabe Kling’s more traditional approach
couldn’t find favor with the judges in the mushy two-footers, leaving only
Lopez and Slater remaining to contest the quarterfinals on the Eastside’s
behalf. Despite decidedly keen lip surgery and some classic Lopey speed lines, the
Gulf Coaster fell to defending ASP World Champion Mick Fanning, while Kelly (who
admitted to being “bored” by the conditions while showing a general lack of
enthusiasm, culminating with a rather ugly bunny-hop in the quarters) did the
unexpected after losing to Simpson in the semifinals.
He cheered up. And this was after losing.
While Simpson struggled to find the
appropriate words for contest interviewer Peter King, talking about how “lucky”
he got against Slater and all that aw-shucks crap, Slater interrupted the kid with,
“Brett didn’t get lucky — he got smart.”
Then Kelly exited with a smile. Pure class.
As said before, Brett went on to beat
Jordy in the final and everyone loves him and there was a sick party and see
you all at Chopes and all that… but for East Coasters, the BIG news was the widdle guys, as Evan Geiselman extinguished Alejo Muniz, Kolohe Andino, and Miguel
Pupo in the final of the ASP Grade-2 U.S. Open Pro Junior, cementing the 2010
ASP North America Pro Junior Series title (the Geiselman family’s second). “I
don’t even know how many events I’ve won this year,” laughed the youngest
Geiselman. “This has been the best year of my life, just crazy, but I’m really
just taking it as it comes and trying to get on a roll. A combination of doing
good in the Main Event, surfing against world champs, and taking that into the
Pro Junior heats really helped my confidence. That air-reverse was my first
wave in my first ‘QS heat against CJ, which surprised me. I was feeling good
after that. This result helps because I’m planning on getting on the World Tour
one day pretty soon.”
And he will. Evan Geiselman is already
the best teenage surfer in Florida, on the East Coast, and now, officially, the
country. And he’s beating world champions in heats of consequence. Of all the
Americans setting themselves up for international success on the ASP World Tour,
no one’s doing it better.
For photos, videos, and full results
of the US Open of Surfing presented by Hurley and Nike 6.0, visit www.USOpenofSurfing.com.
For updated ASP ratings,
visit www.ASPWorldTour.com.
|
