Kelly Slater drops in during round 4
Day 2 of the Billabong Pipeline Masters finished today, and the ASP World Title is still up for grabs. Wave conditions were about 6-7 feet, with a few barrels coming in on some of the bigger sets. Kelly Slater, John John Florence, Joel Parkinson, and Yadin Nicol all advanced to the quarterfinals. However, Mick Fanning made a very uncharacteristic error in the final wave of his 4th round 3 man heat, when he dropped in on John John Florence and got an interference call. Fanning was penalized and dropped from 1st to 2nd in his heat, handing John John Florence the top spot and a pass to the quarterfinals. So Fanning will have to compete in round 5, keeping his world title chances alive.
Other highlights include; Yadin Nicol scored the only perfect 10 of the day with an amazing barrel. Joel Parkinson eliminated Dusty Payne in round 3 despite Dusty's amazing performance, he couldn't get a 2nd high scoring wave. And Miguel Pupo had an amazing barrel scoring 9 points when he eliminated Josh Kerr in round 3.
Slater starts round 3
Slater pulls under the lip in round 3
Slater carrying speed
Dusty Payne
Dusty Payne and Joel Parkinson come in together after a hard fought round 3
Photo: Hugo Silva/Red Bull
Kelly Slater was eliminated in the 2nd round of the Rip Curl Pro in Portugal by wild card entry Frederico Morais. Now Mick Fanning can clinch the title if a few scenarios play out. Fanning needs to finish better than 3rd, and Taj Burrow, Jordy Smith, and Joel Parkinson all need to fail to make it to the finals.
Even if Fanning doesn't clinch the title in Portugal, Slater still has to make it to the finals at Pipeline to stay in contention. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out, but as of now Fanning is looking like the potential champ this year.
Joel Parkinson. Picture: Kirstin Scholtz/ASP
In a very uncharacteristic round 3, Kelly Slater and Joel Parkinson were knocked very early at the Hurley Pro today at Trestles. Slater lost to Pat Gudauskas, and poor conditions are slightly to blame. Slater lost by less than 1 point, but could only muster a 7.7 and 7.1 on almost a dozen waves. Whereas Gudauskas only got 3 waves, but they were waves of the day, and his 8.50 and 7.07 were enough take out Slater. Parko lost to Adam Melling by a total of almost 4 points.
With Slater and Parko out, Mick Fanning looks like the favorite to win the event, and will very likely take over the number 1 spot on tour after this event.
After an entire day of surfing, the Billabong Tahiti Pro wrapped up with Adrian Buchan crowned the winner. He had 2 great waves scoring over a 9 on both, and Slater just couldn't find the right wave to take the lead. What's even more amazing is that in Round 4, Kelly Slater was on getting towed out by the jet ski when an incoming wave flipped it over and pinned Slater under it briefly. Despite coming in 3rd in that non-elimination round, Slater went on to defeat Joel Parkinson in round 5, Freddie Patacchia in the quarterfinals, and Kai Otton in the semi-finals. The guy truly is a machine. Congratulations to Adrian Buchan, and Slater's 2nd place finish which should put him back in the #1 spot on the ASP World Tour.
What a week for Joel Parkinson. After scoring a perfect heat score yesterday, he has now won the Oakley Pro Bali. In lackluster waves, Parko beat Michel Bourez by a close 1.19 points in the final. Congrats Parko!
Joel Parkinson has done it again. He just scored a perfect heat score of 20 points (2 perfect 10 point rides) in heat 4 of the Oakley Bali Pro. This is he 2nd time he has done it, and has now tied Kelly Slater who also has also scored 2 perfect heats in his career. The only other person to score a perfect heat score is Jeremy Flores.
Just as Kelly Slater used his wave priority to stuff Joel Parkinson on a nice barrel, Parko showed off the 1 finger salute. While dropping in like this would never fly on a regular day of surfing, all is fair in love, war, and championship battles. At least they both admitted it was all in good fun after the contest.
Perhaps, this is just karma. In the 2003 Pipeline finals Parko prevented Slater from going on a wave, but claims it was an not an 'intentional' block in an interview from the March 2013 Surfer magazine. Missing that wave cost Slater critical points, and Andy Irons took the championship.
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