Kalani Chapman and Yadin Nicol off to a perfect start at the Billabong Pipe Masters
Hawaii’s Kalani Chapman and Australia’s Yadin Nicol advanced to the second round at the Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons after walking away with top honours from their respective Round 1 heats that went down at Pipeline in Oahu, Hawaii, on Saturday, December 8, 2012.
Chapman got the better of Portugal’s Tiago Pires in the third heat to secure his place in the second round, bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival in the process.
The fourth heat concluded with Nicol claiming a comprehensive victory over Hawaii’s Flynn Novak, forcing the latter out of the competition while making his way through to the next round..
With the event serving as both the final stop on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour and Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, calling it the most important competition of the year could hardly be considered an overstatement.
The opening day of the event saw pumping six-to-eight foot waves gracing the main event site, just what one has come to expect of Pipeline over the years.
Event wildcard Chapman found himself pitted against ASP World Tour veteran Pires in a one-on-one battle for a place in the second round, with the loser to get eliminated from the competition.
As the battle got underway, the 30-year-old local asserted his dominance over his rival with an 8.50-point ride and went on to add an additional 7.33 points to his account, thus getting to a heat-total of 15.83 points.
Pires failed to come up with a solid response, having to eventually settle for a two-wave total of 5.70 points, which included a 3.33 and 2.37-point ride.
The fourth heat saw Nicol claim a convincing victory over Novak to make his way into the third round.
“That was fun.,” Nicol said. “To be honest, it’s a little weird with the overlapping heats. It turned on out there and a few bombs came through. I got smoked a couple of times, we had everything. That view never gets old. I was pretty scared at the time and trying to not thing about that lip coming down on my head. I’m stoked to get through that heat.”
The Australian surfer, current ASP World Championship Tour No.29, needed to register a few wins to requalify for next year’s elite campaign and got off to just the sort of start that he had hoped for.
Posting an 8.50 on the score-board off his first business-wave and backing it up with a 6.83-point wave, Nicol finished with a heat-total of 15.33 points.
Novak only managed to get to a two-wave total of 9.76 points after collecting a 5.83 and 3.93-point ride. As a result, he was forced to concede victory to his rival.
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