SURFING OP PRO CHAMPIONSHIPS : San Clemente’s Beschen Takes First

Another day, another controversy.

A day after Kelly Slater arrived late for his heat because of a scheduling error, Newport Beach’s Richie Collins was fined $100 for swearing at Op Pro surfing championship judges for what he thought was a low score.

Collins and Slater finished third and fourth in their fourth-round heat at the Huntington Beach Pier.

San Clemente’s Shane Beschen, in his first full year on the world tour, won with the day’s best score, 28.67 points on four scoring waves. Brazil’s Jojo De Olivenca, an unseeded trialist, finished second at 23.93, six-tenths of a point ahead of Collins.

Collins said judges miscalculated his 7.83 wave late in the heat, which he thought “was an 8.5 or a 9.” He said the mistake cost him a shot at his second Op title in five years.

“They (judges) have been ripping me off for the past 2 1/2 years,” he said. “It’s impossible for me to win a heat. It’s been so long I can’t remember the last time I won one.

“The judging isn’t being done off surfing, it’s being done off who the judges want to win. They want a new generation of surfers to advance, and they’re making a big mistake.

“I’m outspoken on the tour, and they are trying to get me out. I’m sick of all this political crap. They’ll read what I’m saying, and I’ll probably get fined.”

Al Hunt, Assn. of Surfing Professionals’ director, already did, fining Collins $100 for allegedly cursing and making an obscene gesture to judges after the heat.

Hunt said Collins “may have had a legitimate beef” about the score, but the surfer didn’t discuss it with Hunt or head judge Renato Hickel.

Three judges awarded Collins an 8.5 out of 10, and two gave him 6.5s. It was the only wave of the heat where the differential in scores was greater than a point.

When determining a wave average, the highest and lowest scores are thrown out before calculating the final score.

“No one is out to get Richie,” Hunt said. “It’s just a little paranoia. They start losing, and the get that mentality where they think the whole world is against them.”

Hickel, who videotaped the heat, said Collins’ first move on the wave in question came at the bottom instead of the top, which would have given him a better score.

“This was one of the hardest heats we had today,” Hickel said. “I thought the final average came out good.

“I thought Slater’s and Beschen’s best waves (7.5 and a 7.33) were better than Richie’s.”

Slater, who has been slowed by a knee injury, struggled to catch waves and finished fourth with 19 points. He and Collins were among seven top surfers upset in the fourth round.

Todd Holland of Cocoa Beach, Fla., second on the world tour, was eliminated along with eighth-ranked Luke Egan of Australia, 14th-ranked Jeff Booth of Laguna Beach, 11th-ranked Derek Ho of Hawaii and 22nd-ranked Rob Bain of Australia.

Costa Mesa’s Todd Miller scored a 6.77 on his final wave to slip ahead of Ho and into the second qualifying spot.

Holland had an interference call and finished fourth in his heat. Egan blew out his knee and dropped out of the competition.

Beschen and Olivenca advanced to today’s quarterfinals against Marty Thomas, a Seal Beach native now living in Hawaii, and England’s Martin Potter, a former world champion. Thomas won both his third- and fourth-round heats Thursday.

Beschen and Olivenca surfed one of the best heats of their careers. Beschen was aggressive in the three-foot waves, scoring a 6.0 on his first ride, followed by 7.17 and 7.33.

Olivenca was steady throughout, catching only five waves but making his four scoring rides count--a 4.83, 5.83, 7.0 and 6.27.

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Other results: Eliminated in the third round were Huntington Beach’s Noah Budroe, San Clemente’s Mike Parsons, Mission Viejo’s Donovan Frankenreiter, San Juan Capistrano’s Shane Stoneman, Laguna Niguel’s Vince De La Pena, trialist Kirk Tice of Huntington Beach and Oceanside’s Mike Lambresi.

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Tag-team competition: Hawaii won for the second consecutive day, edging Team USA by four-hundredths of a point.

Hawaii’s Derek Ho scored a 4.77 on his final wave to pass USA’s Todd Holland, who had a 4.5.

The victory all but clinched a spot in Saturday’s finals for Hawaii.

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Competition resumes at 8 a.m. today with the men’s quarterfinals, followed by the third round of the tag-team competition. The Miss Op Sports Model contest starts at 10:20 a.m.. The ongboard quarterfinals and semifinals start at 11:20 a.m.