Proving that there is no place like home, Pancho Sullivan won the 25th annual Xcel Pro men's surfing contest yesterday.

Sullivan, who was raised at Sunset Beach, chose to enter the Xcel Pro over a higher-graded event in Brazil.

"That decision was tough, to bypass on Brazil," he said. "But the injuries I had from earlier in the year were nagging and I wanted to try and finish the year strong and spend some time at home.

"This is a really good way to start the North Shore season."

The Xcel Pro is considered the kickoff event for the famous North Shore surfing season.

Sullivan, 35, has now won the Xcel Pro a record-tying four times. His other victories came in 1998, 2000 and 2003.

Michael Ho also won the Xcel Pro four times.

"I think this is the best one yet," Sullivan said. "The fact that it was a real close final, and the level of surfing was so high."

The final day was run in picturesque 6- to 8-foot waves at Sunset Beach.

Sullivan was in near-perfect form in the final, but was still pushed to the final horn by the other three finalists.

On his opening wave of the final, Sullivan maneuvered into a quick barrel, then came out and completed a daring turn along the top of wave. The judges rewarded him with a 9.77 (out of 10).

"I paddled a little deeper and let the first two waves go by, and fortunately, that third wave had a really good shape to it," he said. "That was a good way to start the heat — build some momentum there."

Midway through the heat, he added a score of 8.67 to give him a total of 18.44.

Kamalei Alexander of Kaua'i finished a close second with a two-wave score of 17.7. Needing a score of 9.45 in the closing seconds, Alexander completed several nice turns on his final wave and received a score of 8.7.

"This is the best I've ever done in a contest, so I'm still feeling great," he said. "I gave it all I had and left it out there."

Danny Fuller of Kaua'i placed third. His two best waves received scores of 8.97 and 7.67 for a total of 16.64.

"I've been competing out here for years and always had a rough go at Sunset, so I was stoked just to be in the final," Fuller said. "I don't want to say it was a given that Pancho would win it, but he was just insane all day out there."

Makuakai Rothman of Sunset Beach placed fourth with a two-wave total of 14.27.

"Makua's point-total for fourth place was 14, and that's usually enough to win," Sullivan said. "That was probably the most exciting final I've ever been in at Sunset. The level of performance was as high as any (World Championship Tour) event I've ever been in."

Sullivan is one of just five Hawai'i surfers on the 2008 World Championship Tour. He skipped the WCT event in Brazil because of a nagging neck injury, and so he could enter the Xcel Pro.

The Xcel Pro is part of surfing's World Qualifying Series, so most of the competitors in the field are considered future stars.

"This has always been an event the local surfers aspire to win," Sullivan said. "There's a lot of prestige involved."

Sullivan received $10,000 for the victory, and served notice that he is healthy enough to make a run at the 2008 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title.

The Triple Crown series is scheduled to start Nov. 12 with the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach.

Joel Centeio, the 2007 Xcel Pro winner, was eliminated in the quarterfinals.

FINAL RESULTS

1, Pancho Sullivan (Hawai'i), $10,000. 2, Kamalei Alexander (Hawai'i), $5,000. 3, Danny Fuller (Hawai'i), $3,000. 4, Makuakai Rothman (Hawai'i), $2,400. 5 (tie), Tommy O'Brien (Florida) and Solomon Ortiz (Hawai'i), $2,300. 7 (tie), Liam McNamara (Hawai'i) and Jason Shibata (Hawai'i), $2,250. 9 (tie), Joel Centeio (Hawai'i), Hank Gaskell (Hawai'i), Evan Valiere (Hawai'i) and Granger Larsen (Hawai'i), $1,700. 13 (tie), Sean Moody (Hawai'i), Izuki Tanaka (Japan), Marco Giorgi (Uruguay) and Kekoa Bacalso (Hawai'i), $1,600.

FIVE FROM HAWAI'I LOSE ON LONGBOARD

Five Hawai'i surfers were eliminated in the second round of the Oxbow World Longboard Tour contest yesterday at San Onofre Beach, Calif.

Kai Sallas, Rusty Keaulana, Dino Miranda, Keegan Edwards and Kai Lenny lost their respective heats yesterday.

Sallas was the hard-luck loser, getting edged at the final horn. Brad Vetter of California received a score of 7.6 on his final wave to beat Sallas, 15.15 to 14.65.

Four other Hawai'i surfers are still in the contest: Bonga Perkins, Kekoa Uemura, Duane DeSoto and Ned Snow advanced to the third round on Wednesday.

The contest is the final stop on the 2008 World Longboard Tour.