SURFING HUNTINGTON BEACH OPEN : Stacked Heat Doesn’t Slow Down Budroe

Noah Budroe pulled on his competition jersey, grabbed his surfboard and headed for the water to size up his competition.

He was more than a little surprised to find Mike Parsons and Richie Collins, two of the top surfers in the world, competing in his fourth-round heat Friday at the Huntington Beach Open.

“I had no idea who I was going against until I got down to the water,” Budroe said. “Then I saw it was two of the top guys in the world and I said, ‘Oh, great.’ ”

But Budroe, of Huntington Beach, held his own, winning the heat and advancing to today’s main event at Huntington State Beach. Also advancing was Parsons, who finished second.

Collins, of Newport Beach, winner of the 1989 Op Pro and ranked eighth in the world last year, finished third and failed to advance.

Peter Mel of Santa Cruz, fifth in the Professional Surfing Assn. of America point standings, finished fourth in the heat.

“This heat was really stacked,” Budroe said. “Mike and Richie are really consistent, so I had to go out and surf radical.”

Budroe counted on several high-scoring moves, including a floater on his third wave and a tube ride on his fourth.

“I surf Huntington a lot,” Budroe said. “This is like my own back yard.

Parsons, of San Clemente, recently left the Assn. of Surfing Professionals world tour to compete in more local events.

He competed on the world tour for seven years, placing in the top 16 four years ago and winning his first tour event--the BHP Steel International at Newcastle, Australia--last November.

“I feel I’m in my prime, and I’m ready to go for the PSAA points title,” Parsons said. “I’ve accomplished what I wanted on the ASP tour--I made the top 16 and I won an event. My sponsors wanted me to stay in the area, too.

“The U.S. title is my goal now. At 26, I still have some good surfing ahead of me.”

Friday’s fourth-round heat was one of Parsons’ toughest early season tests. He said he was surprised he advanced.

“I wasn’t real confident,” he said. “I didn’t finish a couple of my early waves, and I thought that cost me.

“Noah and Richie both had tube rides, and that’s the ultimate.”

Collins wasn’t the only county surfer who fell in the fourth round. Others eliminated were Josh Baxter of San Clemente, Laka Burgess of Huntington Beach, Mike DeNicola of Mission Viejo, Cordell Miller of Laguna Niguel and Todd Bonnet of Huntington Beach.

Henry Long of Dana Point advanced in his first-round bodyboarding heat, finishing second to Nick Luckinbill of San Diego. Shawnee Oide of Hawaii, the only woman competing in the 250 surfers and bodyboarders, finished third in her bodyboarding heat.

Surfing Notes

Competition resumes at 6:20 this morning with the last four fourth-round heats. The Main Event first round follows, with the bodyboarding second round scheduled for 1:40 p.m. . . . The top 32-seeded surfers are scheduled to compete today, including Matt Archbold of San Clemente, Gary Clisby of Huntington Beach, Shane Beschen of San Clemente and John Parmenter of Huntington Beach.

The strong winds that forced officials to postpone Thursday’s final 12 heats of Round 3 faded to a light breeze Friday. . . . The next stop on the PSAA tour is May 22-27 at Imperial Beach. . . . The next Orange County contest is Sept. 3-8 at Lower Trestles.

Results

Surfing

Round 3

(Continued from Thursday)

Heat 5--Ryan Keenan (Vista), Liam McNamara; Heat 6--Mark Moreno; Brad Chang (Honolulu); Heat 7--Josh Baxter (San Clemente), Rick Lasch (Del Mar); Heat 8--Mike Parsons (San Clemente), Colin Smith (Cardiff); Heat 9--Marty Thomas (Long Beach), Shane Stoneman (San Juan Capistrano); Heat 10--Nick Brown, Peter Miller (Kailua, Hawaii); Heat 11--Gary Edgar (Fountain Valley), David Speir (Indialantic, Fla.); Heat 12--Josh Bradbury (Santa Barbara), Kimo Gaspar (Honolulu); Heat 13--Mark Linblad, Todd Bonnet (Huntington Beach); Heat 14--Morgan Bonan, Laka Burgess (Huntington Beach); Heat 15--David Gonsalves (Honolulu), Troy Eckert; Heat 16--Jeff Deffenbaugh (Huntington Beach), Haleiwa, Hawaii).

Round 4

(Top two advance to Main Event first round)

Heat 1--Taylor Knox (Carlsbad), Shane Stoneman (San Juan Capistrano); Heat 2--Rob Machado (San Clemente), Joey Zintel; Heat 3--Nick Brown, Brian McNulty (Capistrano Beach); Heat 4--Walter Cerny (Grover City), Kasey Curtis (Huntington Beach); Heat 5--Sean Yano (Haleiwa, Hawaii), Adam Replogle; Heat 6--Anthony Ruffo (Santa Cruz), Darren Brilhart (Costa Mesa); Heat 7--David Giddings (Newport Beach), Chad Navarro; Heat 8--Noah Budroe (Huntington Beach), Mike Parsons (San Clemente); Heat 9--Marty Thomas (Long Beach), Shane Dorian (Haleiwa, Hawaii); Heat 10--Colby Outlaw (Huntington Beach), Chuy Reyna (Oceanside); Heat 11--Dwayne Maki (Daytona Beach), Chris Billy (Dana Point); Heat 12--Donovan Frankenreiter (Mission Viejo), Todd Jacobs (Manhattan Beach). (Remaining four heats will be completed today.)

Bodyboarding

Round 1

Heat 1--Tim Ross, Manny Vargas (Imperial Beach); Heat 2--Terry McCord, Stefan Sisco; Heat 3--Nick Luckinbill (San Diego), Henry Long (Dana Point); Heat 4--Miguel Fernandez (San Diego), Carlos Liera (Chula Vista); Heat 5--Brian Press (San Pedro), Ammon Walters (Shell Beach); Heat 6--Chris Fessenden (Del Mar), Matt Allen; Heat 7--Jason Lau (Wahiawa, Hawaii), Tom Giaquinto (San Diego); Heat 8--Brendan Patch (Huntington Beach), Ryan Chin (San Diego).