Ian Walsh and Kai Barger power into Round 3 of Billabong Pipe Masters – 2011 ASP World Tour
The 11th and final stop of 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Billabong Pipe Masters, continued to deliver a heavy dose of surfing action to the crowd as the Round 1 battles went down at Banzai Pipeline, the famed North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, on Thursday, December 2. The fifth heat saw Hawaii’s Ian Walsh square off with Australia’s Kai Otton, whereas Hawaii’s Kai Barger competed against Australia’s Chris Davidson in the sixth heat.
The fifth turned out to be pretty intense as both the surfers fought tooth and nail in the exciting yet demanding conditions on offer at the event site. In the end, however, Walsh was able to get his hands on victory and consequently advanced through into Round 3, while Otton got relegated to Round 2.
Barger emerged triumphant despite a pretty lacklustre performance in the sixth heat, which consequently carried him into the third round. Davidson did not look too comfortable in the huge waves and as a result was forced into the relegation Round 2 to surf again for a Round 3 spot.
The exciting yet deadly 15-to-20 foot waves on offer at the primary event site turned out to be a test for the elite ASP Surfers as they were made to work hard and select the waves carefully during their hunt for competitive scores.
As the fifth heat got underway, the 28-year-old Walsh had his hands full as he faced the aggression of Otton. The Australian surfer wasted no time in getting down to business and pushing the crowd-favourite, Walsh, on the back foot with his opening wave which allowed him to post a 9.50 on the score-board. Otton immediately followed it up with his second-business wave which was not even close to being as effective as the previous wave, adding mere 2.13 additional points to his account.
Walsh put his local knowledge of the waves to use and collected a couple of 6.50 to finish with a heat-total of 13.00 points, The two-wave total may not have consisted of something as thrilling as what his rival had thrown in the opening minutes of the battle, but it sure was enough to carry the Hawaiian to victory.
Talking to a reporter after the heat, Walsh said, “You're either going to get a closeout or you're going to get a 9 or a 10. This is the pinnacle event of my surfing career - this and the Eddie Aikau. It's the biggest thing in the world to me.”
The sixth heat saw the crowd-favourite Barger walk away with top honours after finishing with a heat-total of 9.93 points. Despite not being a very confident performance, the effort turned out to be sufficient to carry him off into Round 3.
Davidson failed to make much of an impact during the 40-minute heat and finished with a heat-total of 6.33 points. As a result, he got relegated to Round 2 to face the pressure do-or-die situation.
For more updates on Round 1 of 2011 Billabong Pipe Masters, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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