In short:

Hawaii’s Fred Patacchia took the win at the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro yesterday. Patacchia defeated Tim Boal in the semis before going on to score 16.84 against defending champ Ben Bourgeois’ 14.10 in the final. Local lad Nathan Yeomans had been on fire earlier in the comp, but was narrowly defeated by Bourgeois in the semis. Kai Barger took the Oakley Pro Junior.

In long:

SAN CLEMENTE, California (Saturday, May 3, 2009) – Fred Patacchia (North Shore, HI), 27, won mainland America’s first Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) 6-Star PRIME event, the 6.0 Lowers Pro, when he defeated defending event champion Ben Bourgeois (Wrightsville Beach, NC), 30, by a score of 16.84 to 14.10 in two-to-four foot (1 metre) surf at the famed cobblestone reef of Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California. Today’s action also saw defending ASP World Junior Champion Kai Barger (Haiku, HI), 19, claim the ASP Grade-2 Oakley Pro Junior, which ran in conjunction with the 6.0 Lowers Pro.

The 6.0 Lowers Pro’s ASP 6-Star PRIME status marks the event as a critical stop on each competitors 2009 ASP WQS campaign because it offers the maximum amount of points towards qualification for the ASP World Tour. The Oakley Pro Junior is the second of eight stops on this year’s ASP North America Pro Junior Series, with the top five seeds at year’s end earning their chance to compete against the best ASP Junior talent in Narrabeen, Australia where they battle for the ASP World Junior Championship title.

Patacchia demolished the Lower Trestles righthanders in his Final against Bourgeois, opening up his battle against the former ASP World Tour campaigner with a 9.17 out of 10 in the opening minutes of the heat. The Hawaiian talent backed up the score with a 7.67 to solidify the win over Bourgeois.

“I’m psyching,” Patacchia said. “We got fun waves throughout the whole event and to do it at pretty fun Trestles with only one other guy out is even better, so I’m happy.”

Patacchia is currently sitting in the No. 3 position on the ASP World Tour after two events and was using the premier ASP WQS 6-Star PRIME to help his competitive focus before launching into the Billabong Pro Teahupoo next week.

“It’s a good warm up for the Hurley Pro,” Patacchia said. “It’s not a good warm up for Tahiti, but I just want to stay in contest mode, keep my body in shape and keep my mind strong and I’m having a fairly decent year this year so I just want to keep it going.”

Bourgeois won the 6.0 Lowers Pro last year when the event was an ASP 4-Star and worked his way through to the Final again this year. The talented regular-footer donated stellar performances throughout the event and fell short of the scores needed in the Final to overtake Patacchia for the 6.0 Lowers Pro win.

“I’m stoked to make the final, it was amazing,” Bourgeois said. “I wish I could have caught a few more waves there at the end, but I’m stoked for Fred (Patacchia) he’s been ripping.”

Bourgeois, who was a competitor on last year’s ASP World Tour, topped several of the finest up-and-coming competitors and also defeated current ASP World Tour No. 6 Adriano de Souza (Guaruja Sao Paulo, BRA), 22, who was in top form throughout the event, on the way to his result.

“It was a stacked field for sure,” Bourgeois said. “To make the Final with all of those guys in huge.”

Bourgeois, who is now living in Carlsbad, California, is only a part-time competitor and will be back in a jersey at the ASP 6-Star Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing this summer. In the meantime, the California transplant will be spending his time working on other surf related projects.

“I’m doing the U.S. Open and the O’Neill Cold Water Classic in Santa Cruz,” Bourgeois said. “I’m going on a boat-trip to Panama at the end of this month and for now I’m just hanging out at home in Carlsbad.

Bourgeois’ victory earns him a berth in to the trials for the Hurley Pro, the ASP World Tour contest held at Lower Trestles. The trials for the prestigous event will be held at the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing this summer.

Barger claimed the Oakley Pro Junior in an amazing display of progressive surfing alongside fellow finalists Davey Cathels (North Narrabeen, AUS), 18, who finished second, Dillon Perillo (Malibu, CA), 18, and Hawaiian charger Kiron Jabour (Haleiwa, HI), 18, with an amazing two-wave-score of 18.60 out of 20. Each surfer went wave-for-wave, unleashing massive fins-free turns and huge air reverses, but in the end Barger’s performance would go unmatched.

“Man, that Final was epic, it glassed off out there and the sets just started pumping,” Barger said. “I finally got my chance to get a nice open face right and just tee off, which is what I’ve been waiting to do this whole time, so I’m just super stoked.”

The Oakley Pro Junior victory at Lower Trestles was the first event victory for Barger since his win at the ASP World Junior Championships in Narrabeen, Australia in January, and the result came as a relief to the progressive goofy-footer.

“I’m so stoked because I felt like people would be wondering if I didn’t back up my win from worlds with another result,” Barger said. “This is a solid result for me and it’s good.”

Cathels came from behind to bump Perillo down to the third place position with a last-second effort on a long righthand Lowers wall. The young Australian combined a variety of vicious turns and finished the wave off with a solid reverse to take second overall in the event.

“The waves are so fun out there, it’s just perfect little Trestles,” Cathels said. “The wave is just so rippable. Everone was getting great waves and Kai was just ripping out there, so what can you do, he’s the ASP World Junior Champion for a reason. To get that second, I’m just frothing, that’s what I came here to do.”

Cathels earned the impressive result during his first visit to America and he definitely hope to come back to compete at Trestles again in the future.

“This is my first time to America and my first time to Trestles about a week ago,” Cathels said. “I just fell in love with this wave. It just turned on for us in the Final, it was so good and I’d love to come back.”

6.0 Lowers Pro Final:
1 – Fred Patacchia (HAW)16.84
2 – Ben Bourgeois (USA) 14.10

6.0 Lowers Pro Semifinals Results:
SF 1: Fred Patacchia (HAW) 13.17 def. Tim Boal (FRA) 7.60
SF 2: Ben Bourgeois (USA) 15.80 def. Nathan Yeomans (USA) 14.66

6.0 Lowers Pro Quarterfinals Results:
QF 1: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 15.00 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 8.83
QF 2: Tim Boal (FRA) 14.96 def. Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 11.94
QF 3: Ben Bourgeois (USA) 15.77 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.67
QF 4: Nathan Yeomans (USA) 16.50 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA)

Oakley Pro Junior Final:
1 – Kai Barger (HAW) 18.60
2 – Davey Cathels (AUS) 16.13
3 – Dillon Perillo (USA) 15.94
4 – Kiron Jabour (HAW) 15.33

Oakley Pro Junior Semifinials Results: (1st and 2nd advance)
SF 1: Kiron Jabour (HAW) 15.06, Kai Barger (HAW) 14.94, Dege O’Connell (HAW) 9.56, Andrew Doheny (USA) 9.05
SF 2: Dillon Perillo (USA) 17.90, Davey Cathels (AUS) 15.44, Nat Young (USA) 14.54, Chris Friend (AUS)

Oakley Pro Junior Quarterfinals Results: (1st and 2nd advance)
QF 1: Davey Cathels (AUS) 16.00, Chris Friend (AUS) 15.87, Cory Arrambide (USA) 15.50, Evan Thompson (USA) 14.94
QF 2: Kai Barger (HAW) 15.50, Dege O’Connell (HAW) 11.77, Albee Layer (HAW) 10.76, Luke Davis (USA) 10.13
QF 3: Davey Cathels (AUS) 16.00, Chris Friend (AUS) 15.87, Cory Arrambide (USA) 15.50, Evan Thompson (USA)
QF 4: Nat Young (USA) 14.67, Dillon Perillo (USA) 13.07, Spencer Regan (USA) 12.77, Victor Done (USA) 7.47