Only Kelly Slater and Brazil’s Jadson Andre managed to score double digit heat totals in Round 2 of the Billabong Pipe Masters, which was contested in unruly conditions at the Banzai as a new swell started to fill in.
Kelly Slater advanced to Round 3 in testing conditions at Pipe during Round 2.
Needing to advance to keep his world title hopes alive, Kelly faced local wildcard Reef McIntosh in the opening heat of the second round. Both surfers struggled to put a meaningful score on the board early in the heat as the backwash wreaked havoc on the lip, but with thirteen minutes remaining Kelly found his rhythm and scored a 6.67, 7.43 and an excellent 9.57 on his last three waves to take the heat win and advance to Round 3.
Jordy Smith faced Dusty Payne in Heat 3 of Round 2 and went down hard on a warping Backdoor bomb, which resulted in a damaged shoulder that forced him to withdraw from the heat while still in the lead. This left Dusty Payne with the pick of the lineup and needing a 3.03 to advance with plenty of time left in the heat. Scoring a 3.03 on a day like this at Pipe isn’t easy though, and Dusty went down hard on a couple attempts at the small score. With just six minutes left in the heat, Dusty paddled into a smaller Backdoor wave and stalled hard as the barrel lurched over him before he snuck out. The Vans Triple Crown leader was rewarded with a 3.03, which was just enough to tie with Jordy’s heat total, but with his highest score 0.03 points stronger than Jordy’s, Dusty advanced to the next round.
Jordy went down hard in Heat 3 of Round 2.
In Heat 7 of Round 2, Travis Logie surfed the last heat of his Dream Tour career against Australia’s Ace Buchan. Gritting his teeth and paddling out with a knee injury that forced him to withdraw from Round 1, Travis showed that fighting spirit that made him such a popular surfer on the WCT. Unfortunately that warrior spirit didn’t make the waves any better and both Ace and Travis struggled to find decent scoring rides. By the final hooter, Ace advanced through the heat with a 3.47 total while Travis could only put together a low 1.30 heat total. That didn’t stop Aritz Aranburu and current world champ Mick Fanning from chairing him up the beach in style as if he’d won the Pipe Masters. A true competitor saluted by his peers.
Following that up in Heat 10 was Jadson Andre against Tiago Pires, and as mentioned Jadson was the only other surfer alongside Kelly Slater to register a double figure heat score. His back-up score of a 3.33 wasn’t all that, but his heat-winning 9.37 was all kinds of crazy.
Jadson Andre scored Round 2’s ‘Monster Moment’ with this tricky tube.
When competition resumes at the Billabong Pipe Masters, current ratings leader Gabriel Medina will be just one heat win away from knocking Kelly Slater out of the world title race, while Mick Fanning will be hoping that both surfers stumble so that he can take advantage and win back-to-back world titles.
Log on to aspworldtour.com for all the heat reviews and results from Round 2 of the 2014 Billabong Pipeline Masters.
