SURFING / HUNTINGTON BEACH OPEN : Brown, Severson Catch the Waves, Snag Their Titles

Chris Brown and Ben Severson won titles at the Huntington Beach Open surfing and bodyboarding competition Sunday with contrasting strategies.

Severson, of Wahiawa, Hawaii, won his 27th career bodyboarding event by catching three solid waves in the first 12 minutes of the 30-minute final at Huntington State Beach.

“I had a slow start in my quarterfinal heat,” Severson said. “But I gained a lot of momentum by the finals, and I had a good start.”

But Brown, of Santa Barbara, had to be more patient in the surfing finals. He earned his second career victory by scoring three big waves in the final 10 minutes. Competitors are judged by their top five scoring waves.

“I sat out there for so long,” Brown said. “I just paddled back and forth.

“But I had faith that the waves would come. I’m paid to surf, not to worry.”

Brown earned $5,700 for the victory, and took over the lead in the PSAA points race.

He has 2,187 points in PSAA standings, followed by Mike Lambresi of Oceanside (2,012) and Matt Archbold of San Clemente (1,879). Eight contests remain on the 11-stop tour.

“I have the lead, so I’m in the driver’s seat in a sense,” Brown said. “But it’s still early. It’s inevitable that I will lose some contests. But I’m going to win some, too.”

Bryan Pottger of Fountain Valley took home $3,000 for second place, followed by Marty Thomas of Long Beach ($2,250) and Mike Lambresi of Oceanside ($1,550).

Pottger improved his previous-best finish by one place. He was third at Bolsa Chica State Beach last year.

“Hopefully, I’ll improve one more spot next year,” he said.

Pottger and Lambresi agreed with Brown that waves were hard to come by in the final. Most of the waves were one to two feet and had little shape to them.

“I wanted to catch some bigger waves,” Pottger said, “but they never came. I ended up picking off anything that would come in.”

Lambresi said, “I only scored a 2.5 (out of 10) on my fifth wave, and that’s way below what I needed. I just needed one more good wave to pull me up there.”

The final was frustrating for Thomas, who grew up in Seal Beach. In four years on the Assn. of Surfing Professionals world tour, Thomas has yet to win a contest. He was second to Todd Holland at last year’s Op Pro.

One of the biggest upsets of the competition came in the bodyboarding quarterfinals.

Four-time U.S. champion Mike Stewart of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, was eliminated after he was called for interference.

It was only the second time in two years that Stewart hasn’t reached the finals. His other loss was in the semifinals last year at San Francisco.

Stewart’s absence opened the door for Severson, who edged Manny Vargas of Imperial Beach in the finals.

Severson earned $1,350 for the victory. Vargas, making his first appearance in a final, won $750. Kyle Maligro of Kalaheo, Hawaii, earned $600 for third place and Kainoa McGee of Honolulu won $400 for fourth place.

Archbold, who won the previous tour stop at Santa Cruz, was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Thomas and Shane Stoneman of San Juan Capistrano. Also losing in the quarterfinals were Bud Llamas of Huntington Beach and Kirk Tice of Huntington Beach.

Stoneman and Shane Beschen of San Clemente were eliminated in the semifinals.

Bodyboarders Patrick Caldwell of San Clemente and Brendan Patch of Huntington Beach each won their quarterfinal heats, but were eliminated in the semifinals.

Surfing Notes

The next stop on the PSAA tour will be May 22-27 at Imperial Beach. . . . The next Orange County stop will be Sept. 3-8 at Lower Trestles. . . . Prime Ticket network will televise the finals of the Huntington Beach Open at 8 p.m. May 26.

Results

Surfing

Finals--Chris Brown (Santa Barbara), Bryan Pottger (Fountain Valley), Marty Thomas (Long Beach), Mike Lambresi (Oceanside).

Semifinals

(Top two advanced to next round)

Heat 1--Brown, Pottger; Heat 2--Lambresi, Thomas.

Quarterfinals

(Top two advanced to next round)

Heat 1--Brown, Shane Beschen (San Clemente); Heat 2--Todd Miller (Newport Beach), Pottger; Heat 3--Thomas, Shane Stoneman (San Juan Capistrano); Heat 4--Ted Robinson (Manhattan Beach), Lambresi.

Second round

(Continued from Saturday)

Heat 5--Matt Archbold (San Clemente), Thomas; Heat 6--Stoneman, Dean Randazzo (Somers Point, N.J.); Heat 7--Robinson, Adam Replogle (Capitola); Heat 8--Lambresi, Kirk Tice (Huntington Beach).

Bodyboarding

Finals--Ben Severson (Wahiawa, Hawaii), Manny Vargas (Imperial Beach), Kyle Maligro (Kalaheo, Hawaii), Kainoa McGee (Honolulu).

Semifinals

(Top two advanced to next round)

Heat 1--Maligro, Vargas; Heat 2--Severson, McGee.

Quarterfinals

(Top two advanced to next round)

Heat 1--Maligro, Vargas; Heat 2--Brendan Patch (Huntington Beach); Heat 3--Pat Caldwell (San Clemente), McGee; Heat 4--Brian Press (San Pedro), Severson.