{"id":26966,"date":"2011-12-09T21:05:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-10T05:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=26966"},"modified":"2011-12-09T21:13:36","modified_gmt":"2011-12-10T05:13:36","slug":"pipeline-gets-down-to-the-quarters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=26966","title":{"rendered":"Pipeline Gets Down To The Quarters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Slater<\/a><\/p>\n

We’ll just say it here: John John Florence <\/strong>and Kelly Slater<\/strong> (pictured above) will meet tomorrow (Saturday, December 10, 2011) in the quarter finals of the Billabong Pipeline Masters In Memory of Andy Irons<\/a><\/strong> <\/strong>in what promises to be the heat of the decade.<\/p>\n

“I see John John as the guy to beat,” said Slater. “He’s had (two) tens in his heats and he’s probably the best guy all around out here now. I lost to him earlier (today) – it was kind of a non-elimination thing – but if I were to lose to him tomorrow, it’s definitely no shame. I think he’s better than everyone else in this contest. Jamie (O’Brien) might give him a run on his day, but right and left, big and small, John John’s pretty much the man out here now. If you’re going to win a contest, you want to win against the best guys and unfortunately I got him in the quarters instead of the final, but I’m going to have to surf this one like a final.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But that’s not all. Seems the quarters are stacked with all the right surfers in the right places. Jamie O’Brie<\/strong>n vs. Joel Parkinson<\/strong>. Kieren Perrow<\/strong> vs. Gabriel Medina<\/strong>, and yeah even the Michel Bourez vs. Evan Valiere match up should be good. After what seems like years of less than epic finals this year is shaping up to be just that.<\/p>\n

For the details of how it went from Round 3 to the quarters follow the jump.BANZAI PIPELINE, Oahu\/Hawaii \u2013 The Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons ran for the second consecutive day in firing 10-foot (3-4 metro) Pipeline and today\u2019s action saw local talent John John Florence (HAW), 19, post the event\u2019s highest scores while the contest\u2019s Quarterfinalists were decided.<\/p>\n

The final stop on the 2011 ASP World Title Series, the Billabong Pipe Masters also marks the final jewel of the prestigious Vans Triple Crown.<\/p>\n

John John Florence, current leader on the Vans Triple Crown ratings, further asserted his dominance among the field today, securing both the event\u2019s highest heat-total of a near perfect 19.10, out of 20, in Round 3 and eventually went on to seal his second 10-point ride in Round 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat 10 was just a perfect double-up, I just held my line and it was sick,\u201d Florence said. \u201cThe waves keep coming in and they\u2019re so perfect. It\u2019s so fun being out there with three guys and I want to go on every wave.\u201d<\/p>\n

The young Hawaiian\u2019s flawless score was earned compliments of a deep no-grab backside barrel, which saw the natural-footer relegate ASP World Champions Kelly Slater (USA), 39, and C.J. Hobgood (USA), 32, to Round 5 while advancing directly to the Quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so nervous going in to that heat because C.J. (Hobgood) and Kelly (Slater) are so gnarly,\u201d Florence said. \u201cI\u2019ve looked up to those guys and it\u2019s fun surfing against them. I think it\u2019s the second time I\u2019ve surfed against Kelly and it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve beaten him. This is definitely a dream surfing my home break with three guys out and beating Kelly, I\u2019m so stoked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kieren Perrow (AUS), 34, kept his ASP Dream Tour campaign alive with another valiant effort at Pipeline today. Perrow, who needed a 5th place result to maintain his position among the elite for next year, charged back to life in his Round 4 heat to overtake Shane Dorian (HAW), 39, with a near-perfect 9.83 barrel-ride, securing both his berth in to the Billabong Pipe Masters Quarterfinals and his position on the ASP Top 34 for 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t event believe it, I thought it was done, especially after Shane got that first one,\u201d Perrow said. \u201cYou just never give up really. That wave came and I just had my toes on the tail trying to make that drop. I knew Shane only needed a low score so it wasn\u2019t over by any means. It means the world not having to surf a man-on-man heat because winning that guarantees me for next year. Now I can just go home and get some rest and try and win this thing tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly Slater (USA), 39, got the best of a low-scoring battle over Hawaiian talent Marcus Hickman (HAW) after taking several ugly wipeouts during the affair in his Round 3 bout and despite falling to Florence in Round 4, returned to form in Round 5 with some amazing Pipe barrels of his own to earn his Quarterfinals berth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just didn\u2019t get in sync in those in those first couple of heats,\u201d Slater said. \u201cIn the first one I was really off. John John was in sync in that next one and being in the right position here is only a matter of a few feet. You\u2019re either in the right spot or not and when it\u2019s a guy\u2019s heat it\u2019s his heat. I got breathed off on the first wave I took in that last heat and Kalani (Chapman) got a good one and I got cleaned up. I was thinking \u2018This probably isn\u2019t a good way to start a heat.\u2019 I was patient after that. I got that first one and the second was just a better wave. That one was nice and open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slater, an 18-year veteran of the elite ASP World Tour, is still fired up to compete at the Billabong Pipe Masters after nearly two full decades of competition at the perilous Hawaiian barrel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this event,\u201d Slater said. \u201cAsk everyone on tour and they\u2019ll probably say it\u2019s their favorite. You get the chance to surf Pipe with a few guys out and have your pick. All young surfers look at it and dream about it. I had a picture on my wall of Pipeline and I thought I\u2019ll never catch a wave like that, so to surf it with one guy with priority, it\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michel Bourez (PYF), 25, current No. 3 on the Vans Triple Crown ratings, kept his hopes of winning the prestigious Hawaiian title alive today when he scalped two heat victories in the firing Pipeline conditions to earn his spot in the Quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning a Triple Crown would mean to world to me,\u201d Bourez said. \u201cAfter the World Title, everyone wants to win the Triple Crown. It\u2019s really hard though, because John John (Florence) is leading and he\u2019s on fire right now. It\u2019s going to be an exciting finish for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan Valiere (HAW), 28, continued to dismantle top ranked surfers again today, besting Owen Wright (AUS), 21, and former Billabong Pipe Masters Champion Taj Burrow (AUS), 33, via his immaculate forehand barrel-riding skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was watching the heat before mine I didn\u2019t think there would be that many waves out there,\u201d Valiere said. \u201cIt seemed like it was set-after-set in that heat and we were having lots of fun. It\u2019s just really exciting to get that barrel and I\u2019m putting everything I have in to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabriel Medina (BRA), 17, current ASP World Tour rookie, is well-known for pushing the boundaries of high-performance aerial surfing, but proved he can easily adapt in all conditions when he took out two heat victories in barreling Pipeline to advance to the Quarterfinals today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a fun heat with three guys in the water,\u201d Medina said. \u201cI\u2019m just stoked to be here. This is my first contest at Pipe and I\u2019m so happy. It\u2019s amazing to be out there. I\u2019ve been here for a month and yesterday was the first day Pipe was breaking. This is only my second day at Pipe and I\u2019m trying out my boards now. Yesterday I got some waves and I feel confident and hopefully I can get some better waves in my next heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 7am local time for a possible 8am start and will possibly crown a 2011 Billabong Pipe Masters Champion by day\u2019s end. For all of the LIVE action log on to www.vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com\/billabongpipemasters2011<\/p>\n

For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com<\/p>\n

Billabong Pipe Masters Round 3 Results:
\nHeat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 7.34 def. Aamion Goodwin (HAW) 5.03
\nHeat 2: Kalani Chapman (HAW) 10.27 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 6.83
\nHeat 3: Jamie O\u2019Brien (HAW) 6.46 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 4.10
\nHeat 4: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 8.40 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 6.83
\nHeat 5: John John Florence (HAW) 19.10 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.40
\nHeat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 9.50 def. Marcus Hickman (HAW) 3.56
\nHeat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.77 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 2.27
\nHeat 8: Michel Bourez (PYF) 6.40 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 5.90
\nHeat 9: Evan Valiere (HAW) 16.14 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 15.67
\nHeat 10: Shane Dorian (HAW) 11.24 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 5.66
\nHeat 11: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 18.73 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.60
\nHeat 12: Taj Burrow (AUS) 8.93 def. Ian Walsh (HAW) 5.36<\/p>\n

Billabong Pipe Masters Non-Elimination Round 4 Results:
\nHeat 1: Jamie O\u2019Brien (HAW) 13.92, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.06, Kalani Chapman (HAW) 12.00
\nHeat 2: John John Florence (HAW) 17.67, Kelly Slater (USA) 8.50, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 5.43
\nHeat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) 13.10, Evan Valiere (HAW) 10.84, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 8.17
\nHeat 4: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.66, Shane Dorian (HAW) 11.87, Taj Burrow (AUS) 7.83<\/p>\n

Billabong Pipe Masters Round 5 Results:
\nHeat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.83 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 7.74
\nHeat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.80 def. Kalani Chapman (HAW) 14.33
\nHeat 3: Evan Valiere (HAW) 16.03 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 10.87
\nHeat 4: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 9.23 def. Shane Dorian (HAW) 2.30<\/p>\n

Upcoming Billabong Pipe Masters Quarterfinals Heats:
\nHeat 1: Jamie O\u2019Brien (HAW) vs. Joel Parkinson (AUS)
\nHeat 2: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Kelly Slater (USA)
\nHeat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Evan Valiere (HAW)
\nHeat 4: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Gabriel Medina (BRA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ll just say it here: John John Florence and Kelly Slater (pictured above) will meet tomorrow (Saturday, December 10, 2011) in the quarter finals of the Billabong Pipeline Masters In Memory of Andy Irons in what promises to be the heat of the decade. “I see John John as the guy to beat,” said Slater. […]<\/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\/26966"}],"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=26966"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26970,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26966\/revisions\/26970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}