Evan Valiere and Travis Logie advance to Round 3 of 2011 Billabong Pipe Masters
The final stop of the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Billabong Pipe Masters, kept the thrilling action running with man-on-man Round 1 battles at Banzai Pipeline on the famed North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, on Thursday, December
8. The third heat turned out to be a local affair as Hawaii’s Evan Valiere took on his compatriot Fredrick Patacchia, while the fourth heat pitted South Africa’s Travis Logie against Hawaii’s Bruce Irons.
Valiere dominated the third heat to walk away with a convincing victory and thus confirm his place in Round 3. Consequently, Patacchia got relegated to Round 2 after a pretty lackluster performance and therefore found himself in a pressure must-win situation.
The fourth heat highlighted the difficulty that some of the surfers were facing in controlling the huge barrels on offer. A pretty ordinary effort by Logie proved to be enough to earn him victory and carry him into Round 3, while sending Irons into the second
round.
With 15-to-20 foot waves on offer at the primary event site, the surfers surely had a demanding challenge at hand to overcome. While the excitement of surfing the huge barrels noticeably filled up the air, majority of the surfers found themselves struggling
to tame the wild waves.
The 28-year-old Valiere was, however, among the list of surfers who seemed to be having the time of their life in the huge waves. During the third heat, the local surfer showed hardly any trace of discomfort since the very start and locked a wave in the
early minutes to post a 9.33 on the score-board. In the final minutes of the battle, he added another 8.83 points to his account, climbing to an intimidating heat-total of 18.16 points as a result.
Patacchia, on the other hand, failed to warm up to the conditions at hand and despite a determined hunt, he was only able to get to a heat-total of 6.00 points, which included a 2.83 and 3.17-point wave. As a result, he was forced to concede victory to his
compatriot and headed into Round 2 to surf yet again for the Round 3 spot.
The fourth heat featured a pretty disappointing performance by both Logie and Irons as they conducted a hunt for a couple of competitive scores. While the waves were indeed pretty intimidating, the elite ASP surfers were expected to rise up to the challenge
and put up a fight instead of completely succumbing to it.
The 32-year-old Logie earned a 0.90 off his first business-wave and later added another 2.67 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 3.57 points. The score proved to be enough to carry him off to victory and consequently confirm his place in
the third round.
Irons’ effort turned out to be even worse than his rival’s and he finished with a heat-total of merely 2.70 points, which comprised of a 1.10 and 1.60-point wave. As a result, he was forced to surrender victory to his rival and head into Round 2 to make
another attempt at earning a place in Round 3.
For more updates on Round 1 of 2011 Billabong Pipe Masters, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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