Hawaiian Hometown Hero

Justin Cote

• November 23 2009
• 13 comments

Hawaiian Hometown Hero

Haleiwa’s Own Joel Centeio Wins The Reef Hawaiian Pro And Takes The Vans Triple Crown Lead Heading Up To Sunset Beach

Congratulations to Haleiwa’s own Joel Centeio! With his local beach packed to the gills with friends and family, Centeio took out a field stacked with top ASP surfers and a slew of local Hawaiian threats.

After sealing the win and doing a shaka-filled victory lap on the back of a Hawaiian Water Patrol PWC, Centeio was tackled and doused with beer by eight of his friends (Freddy P, Merle, Shibata, Moody, Bacalso, etc.) in the Haleiwa shore break. A happy, drunken batch of wet men. “It’s a dream come true at my home break,” he told the large crowd afterward while referring to the win (not the dog pile).

With his victory in the World Qualifying 6-star Prime event, Centeio rocketed up the WQS ratings, but, more importantly, now sits atop the Vans Triple Crown series, which heads to Sunset Beach next—where he’s won before. With $50,000 going to the winner of the Triple Crown series and already $20,000 grand richer today, Joel Centeio could be looking at a very happy holiday season…

2009 Reef Hawaiian Pro Results:
1) Joel Centeio (HAW)
2) CJ Hobgood (USA)
3) Jay Thompson (AUS)
4) Alain Riou
9.33 and 5.43

Next Vans Triple Crown Event:
O’Neill World Cup Of Surfing At Sunset Beach

ASP Press Release:
Reef Hawaiian Pro
Jewel #1 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing
Presented by Rockstar Energy Drink
6-star $145,000 men’s WQS

Joel Centeio Wins Reef Hawaiian Pro To Take Vans Triple Crown Of Surfing Series Lead

Florida’s CJ Hobgood Runner-Up. Californian Nate Yeomans Qualifies for ASP Dream Tour with Quarter Final Finish and Australian Jay Thompson Qualifies for ASP Dream Tour with 3rd Place

Haleiwa, HI (Nov. 23, 2009) - 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 forecasts.

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 broadcast live on the web at triplecrownofsurfing.com, as well as on Hawaii television on Oceanic channel 250.

Making the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing presented by Rockstar Energy Drink possible: Reef, O’Neill, Billabong, Gidget Worldwide, Nixon, Turtle Bay Resort, Hawaiian Airlines, JN Automotive Group, Surfing Magazine, Surfline.com, FUEL TV, The Honolulu Advertiser, Hawaiian Springs Water, Road Runner, Climb On! chemical-free skincare, and the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP). The Series is proud to announce that it is working with local company Tr3ees to embark upon a greener, more sustainable future.

RESULTS:
1st - Joel Centeio (Haleiwa, HI, USA), Heat score: 14.76 (9.33, 5.43) $20,000
2nd - CJ Hobgood (Florida, USA), Heat score: 13.74 (8.07, 5.67) $10,000
3rd - Jay Thompson (Australia), Heat score: 12.17 (7.0, 5.17) $5,100
4th - Alain Riou (French Polynesia), Heat score: 5.27 (4.5, 0.77) $4,900

S1: Joel Centeio (HAW), Jay Thompson (AUS), Damien Hobgood (USA), Kai Otton (AUS)
S2: CJ Hobgood (FL), Alain Riou (PYF), Hank Gaskell (HI), Dion Atkinson (Aus)

Q1: Kai Otton (AUS), Jay Thompson (AUS), Matt Wilkinson (AUS), Sebastien Zietz (HAW)
Q2: Joel Centeio (HAW), Damien Hobgood (USA), Roy Powers (HAW), Joel Parkinson (AUS)
Q3: Hank Gaskell (HAW), Dion Atkinson (AUS), Torrey Meister (HAW), Adrian Buchan (USA)
Q4: Alain Riou (PYF), CJ Hobgoood (AUS), Sunny Garcia (HAW), Nathan Yeomans (USA)

H1: Jay Thompson (AUS), Damien Hobgood (USA), Jarrad Howse (AUS), Lincoln Taylor
H2: Sebastian Zietz (HAW), Roy Powers (HAW), Ben Dunn (AUS), Cory Lopez (USA)
H3: Joel Centeio (HAW), Matt Wilkinson (AUS), Tanner Gudauskas (USA), Leigh Sedley (AUS)
H4: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Kai Otton (AUS), Dean Morrision (AUS), Andre Silva (BRA)
H5: Dion Atkinson (AUS), Alain Riou (PYF), Marco Polo (BRA), Ariz Aranburu (EUK)
H6: Hank Gaskell (HAW), Nathan Yeomans (USA), Hodei Collazo (EUK), Blake Thornton (AUS)
H7: CJ Hobgood (USA), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Tom Whitaker (AUS), Jesse Merle-Jones (HAW)
H8: Sunny Garcia (HAW), Torrey Meister (HAW), Adam Meiling (AUS), Bernardo Miranda (BRA)