Aamion Goodwin and Jamie O’Brien prevail in Round 1 of Billabong Pipe Masters – 2011 ASP World Tour
The best surfers from all around the globe continued to take each other on in the Round 1 of Billabong Pipe Masters, the final stop of 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, at Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, on Thursday,
December 2. The action continued as Hawaii’s Aamion Goodwin squared off with Australia’s Daniel Ross in the seventh heat, while the eighth heat saw Hawaii’s Jamie O’Brien take on America’s Dane Reynolds.
The seventh heat finished with Goodwin walking away with top honours, consequently securing his place in Round 3 while forcing his competitor, Ross, into Round 2 to surf again to earn his place in the third round.
O’Brien put forward a pretty impressive performance to take a win over Reynolds and advance directly into Round 3, while pushing the latter into the relegation Round 2.
Surfing was not easy on the opening day of the latest elite tour event as the deadly 15-to-20 foot waves tested the big-wave riding prowess of the elite ASP 34. After practicing in flatter waves over the last few days, the sudden transition to the big waves
caught many surfers off guard.
As the seventh heat kicked off, the 33-year-old Goodwin got off to a slow start as he tried to warm up to the waves. The advantage of surfing in his own backyard gave the local surfer an advantage over his rival, which he eventually capitalized by locking
a wave to post a 4.67 on the score-board and immediately following it up with a 5.67-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 10.34 points.
Ross never managed to adjust to the size of the waves and merely scored 1.47 and 1.37 off his top-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 2.84 points. The disappointing performance forced him to concede victory to his rival while moving into the second
round to try and secure his position in Round 3 once again.
The eighth heat turned out to be a one-man show, with local O’Brien completely stealing the 40-minute battle through an exhibition of outstanding big-wave surfing. As the heat kicked off, the Hawaiian locked a wave to pull off a flurry of exquisite tricks
to earn 9.27 points for the effort. He almost immediately followed it up with a 5.50-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 14.77 points. The score served to seal the fate of the contest in Goodwin’s favour, carrying him off into Round 3 as a result.
Reynolds began the heat as the favourite but completely failed to live up to the expectations and finished with a heat-total of 3.24 points, which comprised of a 1.67 and 1.57-point wave. As a result, he was relegated to Round 2 to make another attempt at
earning a place in Round 3.
For updates on Round 1 of 2011 Billabong Pipe Masters, stay tuned to bettor.com.
Tags: