{"id":12357,"date":"2009-12-11T16:27:15","date_gmt":"2009-12-12T00:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=12357"},"modified":"2009-12-12T15:22:49","modified_gmt":"2009-12-12T23:22:49","slug":"pipeline-masters-round-two-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=12357","title":{"rendered":"Pipeline Masters: Round Two Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jjfbbgpiper209(Cestari)Big\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We’ve been John John Florence<\/strong> fans for a while now, but nothing compares to watching the 16-year-old frolicking in the Billabong Pipeline Masters<\/a><\/strong>. This morning he playfully decimated Brazil’s Heitor Alves<\/strong> with a 18.90 and logged the highest score of the day. John John has been surfing so perfectly in his own zone that it will be interesting to see if anyone can stop him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just going crazy out there with only three people out,\u201d Florence said. \u201cThere are so many fun waves and I was just trying to catch as many as I could while I had the chance. It\u2019s good to know the lineup out here when it\u2019s smaller because a lot of times they run along the reef faster and those right barrels get really small and can be tough to make it out of.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tomorrow, Bobby Martinez<\/strong> gets his chance in heat four of round three.<\/p>\n

The most potentially reality warping matchup of the contest comes tomorrow in heat two when Mick Fanning<\/strong> meets Torrey Meister<\/strong>. Meister wouldn’t even be in the Masters if Sunny Garcia<\/strong> hadn’t showed up 5 minutes late for his round one heat against Nic Muscroft<\/strong>. Strange twists of fate like this often end up writing history.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow the biggest stars of the ASP meet the North Shores offensive line and there’s a high probability for things to get seriously scrambled. Follow the jump for the ASP release from today.
\nPIPELINE, Oahu\/Hawaii (Friday, December 11, 2009) \u2013 Competitors reveled in the gently groomed four-to-six foot (1.5 \u2013 2 metre) barrels of the Banzai Pipeline today as the remaining nine Round 2 heats of the Billabong Pipe Masters were completed before competition was called off for the day.<\/p>\n

Event No. 10 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Billabong Pipe Masters marks the third and final stop of the Vans Triple Crown (an ASP Specialty Series) and the Hawaiians ruled the day\u2019s proceedings, taking six wins in nine heats.<\/p>\n

John John Florence (HAW), 16, wildcard and youngest the competitor in the Billabong Pipe Masters, was dominant once again today, effortlessly threading both the Backdoor rights and the Pipeline lefts with pancahe and aplomb to net the day\u2019s highest heat total, an 18.90 out of a possible 20, to eliminate ASP World No. 27, Heitor Alves (BRA), 27.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just going crazy out there with only three people out,\u201d Florence said. \u201cThere are so many fun waves and I was just trying to catch as many as I could while I had the chance. It\u2019s good to know the lineup out here when it\u2019s smaller because a lot of times they run along the reef faster and those right barrels get really small and can be tough to make it out of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florence will take on Bobby Martinez (USA), 27, in Round 3 when the Billabong Pipe Masters resumes.<\/p>\n

Andy Irons (HAW), 31, former three-time ASP World Champion and former four-time Pipe Masters Champion, continued his blitzkrieg on the competitive field this afternoon, navigating his way through several Backdoor pits to dispatch Drew Courtney (AUS), 30, in the final heat of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m having a lot of fun in the event,\u201d Irons said. \u201cThe waves have been really good the past two days and they look like they\u2019re going to be getting really good tomorrow. I\u2019m really enjoying putting the jersey on again and am excited to get a result here before I start back full-time in 2010.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irons faces Damien Hobgood (USA), 30, in the upcoming Round 3 when the Billabong Pipe Masters resumes.<\/p>\n

Chris Ward (USA), 31, current ASP World No. 37 and last year\u2019s event Runner-Up, is in need of a solid result to vault himself into the qualification cutoff for the 2010 ASP Dream Tour, but if today\u2019s inspired approach in the lethal Backdoor barrels was any indication, the combustible Californian knows what it takes to win at the Pipeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to take good barrel riding and charging because the waves are going to get good here over the next couple of days and I\u2019m really looking forward to it,\u201d Ward said. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to some big barrels. Finishing runner-up to Kelly (Slater) last year was pretty rad. I would have loved to win the Pipe Masters and the Triple Crown, but this year\u2019s a new year and I\u2019d love to win the Pipe Masters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ward will battle Fredrick Patacchia (HAW), 27, in Round 3 of the Billabong Pipe Masters.<\/p>\n

Dean Morrison (AUS), 28, current ASP World No. 17, put in a juggernaut performance in the early proceedings today, showing an uncanny rapport with the Backdoor righthanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cBackdoor is one of my favorite waves,\u201d Morrison said. \u201cI look forward to it all year and I spend another six weeks here just to try and get my barrels. I love it. Spending time here, for myself, it makes me a little more comfortable out there and it\u2019s nice when you\u2019re competing \u2013 it\u2019s nice to know a break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surfline, official forecasters for the Billabong Pipe Masters, are calling for a prime 10-to-12 foot (3-4 metre) swell to build for tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 6:30am to assess conditions for a possible 8am start.<\/p>\n

When competition resumes, up first will be current ASP World No. 27, Adrian Buchan (AUS), 27, up against fellow ASP Dream Tour competitor Dean Morrison (AUS), 28, in Heat 1 of Round 3.<\/p>\n

The Billabong Pipe Masters will be webcast LIVE via www.billabongpro.com and www.triplecrownofsurfing.com<\/p>\n

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com<\/p>\n

REMAINING BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 2 RESULTS:
\nHeat 8: Torrey Meister (HAW) 14.83 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 14.00
\nHeat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) 16.93 def. Sion Milosky (HAW) 8.37
\nHeat 10: Chris Ward (USA) 15.50 def. Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 14.66
\nHeat 11: Flynn Novak (HAW) 14.17 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.84
\nHeat 12: John John Florence (HAW) 18.90 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 3.24
\nHeat 13: Gavin Gillette (HAW) 14.20 def. Mick Campbell (AUS) 8.97
\nHeat 14: Dayyan Neve (AUS) 14.16 def. Tim Boal (FRA) 13.17
\nHeat 15: Hank Gaskell (HAW) 16.44 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 15.67
\nHeat 16: Andy Irons (HAW) 18.40 def. Drew Courtney (AUS) 9.74<\/p>\n

BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
\nHeat 1: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Dean Morrison (AUS)
\nHeat 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Torrey Meister (HAW)
\nHeat 3: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Andy Irons (HAW)
\nHeat 4: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. John John Florence (HAW)
\nHeat 5: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Flynn Novak (HAW)
\nHeat 6: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Michael Picon (FRA)
\nHeat 7: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. Chris Ward (USA)
\nHeat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Hank Gaskell (HAW)
\nHeat 9: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Liam McNamara (HAW)
\nHeat 10: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
\nHeat 11: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Bruce Irons (HAW)
\nHeat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Dayyan Neve (AUS)
\nHeat 13: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Phillip MacDonald (AUS)
\nHeat 14: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Shane Dorian (HAW)
\nHeat 15: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Gavin Gillette (HAW)
\nHeat 16: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve been John John Florence fans for a while now, but nothing compares to watching the 16-year-old frolicking in the Billabong Pipeline Masters. This morning he playfully decimated Brazil’s Heitor Alves with a 18.90 and logged the highest score of the day. John John has been surfing so perfectly in his own zone that it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12357"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12357"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12398,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12357\/revisions\/12398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}