Superb performances take Billy Kemper and Evan Valiere to Round 3 at Vans World Cup of Surfing
Hawaii’s Billy Kemper and his compatriot Evan Valiere put up an impressive show for the local crowd and consequently walked away with the win from their respective Round 2 (Round of 96) heats of the Vans World Cup of Surfing, second jewel on the 30th
anniversary Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, which continued at the Sunset Beach in Oahu, Hawaii, on Friday, November 30, 2012.
While Kemper took the top spot in heat 9, Australia’s Perth Standlick finished just behind him in second place, thus accompanying the winner into the third round (Round of 64). Puerto Rico’s Brian Toth finished third, while Hawaii’s Myles Padaca was unable
to compete in the heat, thus taking fourth spot. Both the surfers were consequently ejected from the contention for the event title.
The 10th heat saw Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia secure second place to move alongside Valiere to Round 3. South Africa’s Dale Staples and Australia’s Mark Occhilupo finished in third and fourth place respectively, thus getting eliminated from the
competition.
With the face heights of the waves going as high as 15 feet, the settings for the latest day of the competition were nothing short of deadly. The talented surfers from around the world found themselves staring at a daunting task of taming such wild conditions,
which was apparently taking a massive amount of effort and concentration.
Pitted against Standlick, Toth and Padaca in the ninth heat, Kemper did not wait too long to establish himself as the dominating force.
The Hawaiian surfer made an effective use of his local knowledge of the waves to select the juiciest waves and managed to earn an outstanding 9.00 and 8.00 off them, thus registering a heat-total of 17.00 points.
“I’ve been surfing here since I was eight years old,” said Kemper. “To me it’s local knowledge of surfing out here and putting in your time. I mean this morning there was a bunch of kids out here who surf unbelievable – some of the best surfers in the world
– but they’re out here the day before the contest practicing rather than those of us who are out here year round. We surf out here everyday, it’s our backyard and I think that’s what really comes into play.”
Standlick was able to make the Round 3 cut as well, courtesy of a phenomenal 9.37-point ride, which he backed up with a 3.60-point wave to eventually finish with a heat-total of 12.97 points.
Toth scored a 6.67 off his first business-wave and only managed to add an additional 1.33 points to his account off his second business-wave, thus registering a heat-total of 8.00 points. He, along with Padaca who failed to compete in the battle for survival,
found themselves eliminated from the event.
The 10th heat saw Valiere walk away with the win after posting a 7.33 off his first business-wave and backing it up with a 5.83-point ride to register a decisive heat-total of 13.16 points.
Patacchia got himself a couple of scores in the six-point range to eventually finish in second place with a heat-total of 12.66 points.
Staples finished third with a heat-total of 10.60 points, while Occhilupo took fourth place with a heat-total of 4.33 points. The bottom-two positions resulted in their removal from the contention for the coveted prize purse and Association of Surfing Professionals
(ASP) ranking points.
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