AMERICA´S LARGEST PROFESSIONAL SURFING COMPETITION LAUNCHES THE $240,000 PHILIPS FUSION EVENT AT THE HUNTINGTON BEACH PIER

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - Monday, July 30 - Competition is underway at the $120,000 Philips Electronics U.S. Open of Surfing, America´s largest professional surfing competition. The eighth annual Philips U.S. Open launches the inaugural Philips Fusion event, held today through August 5 at the Huntington Beach Pier.

The $240,000 action sports, technology and music festival, sponsored by Philips Electronics, attracts more than 600 world-class athletes from across the globe and features surfing, bicycle freestyle, skateboarding and inline skating in a variety of challenging venues along with an interactive festival area and live concerts.

Kicking off the competition today were nearly 100 of the world´s finest junior surfers in the $5,000 Billabong Junior Pro, held in classic Huntington conditions, with SW 5-10 mph winds and 2-3 foot waves. Nineteen-year-old Huntington Beach local Tim Reyes triumphed in the small surf, maneuvering the highest scoring wave (9.17) of the day.

"The wave before that one, I kind of blew it and I knew I needed to do something big," said an exuberant Reyes. "Luckily, a right came through. I didn´t know how high of a score it was but I was definitely way stoked when I found out." That wave put him in place to finish the day with the highest scoring heat (23.50), as well. "I didn´t know I had the highest scoring heat either until a reporter came up and told me. I was like, ´Cool. Rad. I didn´t know.´ That makes me more confident going into the quarter-finals."

The day ended half way through the qualifying heats leading up to the quarter-finals (scheduled for Saturday afternoon), with four heats continuing Tuesday morning. Those who know where they will be on Saturday afternoon so far include hometown favorite, Micah Byrne (Huntington Beach - 18.77), as well as other Southern California locals Anthony Petruso (Malibu - 16.33), Mike Todd (Laguna Beach - 20.16), Che Stang (Carlsbad - 17.93), and Dylan Slater (Ventura - 11.43). They´ll have competition from Japan´s Masatoshi Ohno (20.6) and Hawaii´s Fred Pattachia (18.7).

Competition continues on Tuesday with trials round five of the $100,000 Philips Electronics U.S. Open of Surfing, a six-star World Qualifying Series (WQS) event. The 2001 U.S. Open, which boasts a field of more than 300 surfers, historically attracts more competitors than any other pro surfing competition in the world. On Friday, nearly 30 of the world´s Top 44 pros are slated to compete, including reigning world and event champion Sunny Garcia (Hawaii), current world number one C.J. Hobgood (Florida) and former U.S. Champions Taylor Knox (Carlsbad), Rob Machado (Cardiff) and Tim Curran (Ventura).

The $5,000 Deesse U.S. Open of Women, also beginning on Tuesday, showcases an international blend of WCT, WQS and amateur surfers. Surfers competing on Tuesday include Coleen Hanley (San Clemente), Sena Seramur (Hawaii) and Diana Mattison (Berkley). Later in the week former world champion Pauline Menczer (Australia), Holly Beck (Palos Verdes), Pru Jeffries (Australia) and Falina Spires (Florida) are among the featured competitors.

The Philips Fusion event pairs the U.S. Open with several of the action sports associated with the beach lifestyle, August 3-5. Innovative venues and competitions include the $45,000 Philips Soul Bowl. The one-of-a-kind "Soul Bowl" features the world´s best skateboarders, inline skaters and bicycle stunt riders vying for a combined purse of $45,000. The $20,000 Norelco Contour Park puts a new twist on traditional street courses and features the "Top 16" bicycle stunt riders and inline skaters. More than 50 of the world´s top skateboarders will compete in World War III. Presented by Champs Sports, this $50,000 "best trick" competition is staged on a 120´ by 150´ platform with unique obstacles erected on daily basis.

Where action sports, technology and music collide, the Philips Fusion event features an interactive festival area powered by Philips Electronics´ audio and video technology. Activities will include DJ Music, athlete autographs, contests and sampling. The Philips Concert Stage will host live regional and national musical acts (Common Sense and Ozomatli) on August 3 & 4. At Norelco Adrenaland festival attendees join the sports action and test their skills on a 25´ rope climb. The festival and all events are open to the public, free of charge.

The Philips Fusion event will be broadcast to millions of viewers on Fox Sports Net, as part of Bluetorch TV, Sept. 24-28 and Oct. 15-19. ESPN will provide four hours of coverage focusing on aggressive inline skating in the Philips Soul Bowl and Norelco Contour Park. Extensive coverage of Philips Fusion competition is available on Bluetorch.tv, an interactive, action sports web portal, and on www.fusion.philips.com.

Contests - Surfersvillage