Joel Centeio Wins Reef Hawaiian Pro At Home

All photos by Paulo Dias

There is a party in the North Shore tonight! Local boy Joel Centeio, lived his dream today at the Reef Hawaiian Pro, catching a massive barrel on the final and finishing first in the event. It was a day to remember for the Haleiwa locals, who witnessed one of their own win the prestigious 6-star prime WQS event.

Even though the final heat wasn't as consistent as some of the quarters or even semifinals, Joel managed to ride two good waves, get shacked on both and get the job done. His second barrel was heavy and set the crowd on fire.

Watch the final day's best moments:

CJ Hobgood was also on form today, threwing big maneuvers and charging hard. Parko, besides being stopped in the quarterfinals, surfed the barrel of the day and scored the only perfect 10 of the entire event.

There were two big QS updates after the event, the qualifications of  Aussie Jay "Bottle" Thompson and Nate Yomeans to the 2010 Dream Tour. They secured the points and are officially in.

Joel Centeio now leads the Vans Triple Crown, which continues tomorrow at Sunset Beach with the opening of the second jewel, the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing. FUEL TV will bring you daily updates, photos and video highlights of the event, so check back!

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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.

Parko claims his 10-point ride.

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.

Highlights of the Reef Hawaiian Pro will be made available to television later today (separate advisory).
Hi-resolution press images can be obtained at aspworldtour.com/Press Room, via Getty Images.
For urgent requests, please contact Jodi Wilmott in Hawaii: (808) 258-8533. No problem!:)

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)