Shane Dorian and Ricardo dos Santos put on superb performances in Round 1 at Billabong Pipe Masters
Hawaii’s Shane Dorian and Brazil’s Ricardo dos Santos secured their place in Round 2 at the Billabong Pipe Masters after claiming victory in respective Round 1 heats that took place at the Pipeline in Oahu, Hawaii, on Saturday, December 8, 2012.
Dorian got the better of America’s Patrick Gudauskas in the ninth heat to make his way into the second round, eliminating his rival from the competition in the process.
The 10th heat saw Hawaii’s Dusty Payne succumb to Dos Santos, consequently getting forced to join the spectators, whereas the Brazilian surfer comfortably made the Round 2 cut.
Due to serving as the final stop for both the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour and the 30th anniversary Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, Billabong Pipe Masters had a lot of hype surrounding it and the intensity prevailing at the main event site was a prove of that.
With the stakes so high and rewards so attractive, the best in the business were not in a mood to settle for anything less than a win, something that their determination on the very first day of the competition made quite evident.
The ninth heat of Round 1 pitted Dorian against Gudauskas in a one-on-one battle for the Round 2 spot.
The 40-year-old Dorian, former ASP World Championship Tour competitor, displayed his big-wave prowess during the course of the battle and put on an amazing performance to steal the show.
“I always start off with a plan, but sometimes it doesn’t materialize,” Dorian said. “I try my best and hopefully get a few nuggets. The conditions were tricky with lots of bumps. I was happy to get that 9 and after that I was just playing defense. I broke my old faithful, I was bummed about that, but I just got spanked out there. It’s all good though, that’s what they’re for.”
Scoring a near-perfect 9.17 off his first business-wave and backing it up with a 5.33-point ride, the Hawaiian surfer registered a heat-total of 14.50 points.
Gudauskas responded with heat-total of 9.83 points, which comprised of a 7.00 and 2.83-point wave. The effort was not enough to challenge the score put on the score-board by his rival and consequently resulted in his elimination from the competition.
The 10th heat saw Dos Santos get the better of Payne by collecting an 8.00 and 6.73 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 14.73 points against his rival’s two-wave total of 7.84 points, which comprised of a 5.57 and 2.27-point ride.
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