CONDITIONS: 2-3ft, wedgy beach-break peaks.
EVENTS HELD: Semi’s and Final of Oakley Newport Beach Pro, Final of Oakley Pro Jr.
NATURE’S CALL: Can I take a break now? I’m tired of turning it on every day...
PREDICTIONS: Nate for back to back to back to back victories in 2009.
Well, it’s official. Next year the Oakley Newport Beach Pro is gonna have a new title: The Nate Yeoman’s Retirement Fund. Yep, it’s getting that ridiculous. The man’s got a lock on the competition like Tiger Woods at the U.S Masters... besides the fact that Tiger hasn’t won the Masters three years in a row. But seriously, silly analogies aside, the final day of the Oakley Newport Beach Pro and Oakley Pro Junior was a great day for American surfing and American surfers.
The scene on the beach was as grass-roots as you can get at a big time world tour event. There was t-shirt giveaways a-plenty, free grinds courtesy of Chronic Tacos and grommets wrestling for product and throwing water balloons at innocent bystanders like it was going out of fashion. To complement the world class ripping that was happening in the pro events, the City of Newport Beach organised a cool amateur event to coincide with the finals day action. This ensured bragging rights for the next 365 days for a handful of lucky local heroes. Hopefully building events like this from the ground floor up will see a few more Newport boys graduate to the Pro events in the next few years.
If it wasn’t for the three-peating, triple-troubling, hat-trick antics of a certain Yeoman, the buzz surrounding the Oakley NB Pro would be centred on Dillon Perillo. The super-grom surfed like a seasoned vet for the entirety of the both the Pro and Pro Junior divisions of the contest. He took out the Oakley Pro Jr with committed, tight surfing and even launched a clean frontside Lien air after a fin-throw for a 9.33, the highest wave score of the final. Want a definition of domination? When the horn sounded to end the Pro Jr final, Perillo had everyone else in the heat bobbing around in combo-land. Not bad considering the talent rich field he was up against.
Perillo’s got a serious repertoire in his back pocket and was a crowd favourite amongst the peanut gallery on the beach. He also managed to put in a solid 2nd place effort in the Oakley NB Pro final, sticking a nice air reverse for good measure. Good final effort for someone who’d just surfed back to back heats and about a hundred other heats over the course of the week.
The best thing about Perillo competing today was watching his dad almost descend into cardiac arrest whenever things got tense. It was better than reality TV. And the episode even had a happy ending: by end of the day the old man could’ve relaxed in the knowledge that Dillon had pocketed five thousand gorillas for six days of surfing. Could be time to pay back dad for all those lifts to the beach...
But back to today’s other winner (who also took home five large), ‘Trifecta’ Yeomans surfed this event like a champ from the beginning. He won every heat on his way to the final by surfing hard on the best waves that came through, using as much rail and tail as possible in every turn. In the final he turned on the dazzle and dropped a backhand punt after a big hook to seal the deal. He was flashy when he needed to be and surfed with commitment on every wave he caught. That’s how it’s done kids.
Tune in next year when the three-ring circus returns to Newport Beach. Actually... if Nate enters again better make that four-ring circus.
Oakley Newport Beach Pro – ASP WQS 2-Star Men’s
Final
1 – Nathan Yeomans (USA) 15.37
2 – Dillon Perillo (USA) 13.67
3 – Travis Mellem (USA) 12.40
4 – Micah Byrne (USA) 10.57
Semifinals: 8 surfers remaining (1st and 2nd advance)
SF 1: Dillon Perillo (USA) 12.40, Travis Mellem (USA) 10.90, Brett Barley (USA) 10.16, Darrell Goodrum (USA) 9.30
SF 2: Nathan Yeomans (USA) 15.83, Micah Byrne (USA) 14.60, Asher Nolan (USA) 11.90, Brad Ettinger (USA) 11.10
Oakley Pro Junior – ASP Grade-2 Pro Junior Men’s
Final:
1 – Dillon Perillo (USA) 18.16
2 – Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 14.16
3 – Michael Dunphy (USA) 11.93
4 – Trevor Saunders (USA) 9.86
Macy’s California Trifecta Surf Series (ASP North America Specialty Series) Ratings:
ASP WQS Men
1 – Nathan Yeomans (USA) 2,175 points
2 – Asher Nolan (USA) 1,800 points
3 – Joel Centeio (HAW) 1,650 points
3 – Kieran Horn (USA) 1,650 points
ASP Pro Junior
1 – Sebastian Zietz (USA) 778 points
2 – Dillon Perillo (USA) 725 points
3 – Jason Harris (USA) 630 points