Imagens: Surfline.com

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Taj Burrow vence pela primeira vez o Pipe Masters. Confira o vídeo com os destaques.

Photo: Surfline Jeremiah Klein

Após dias clássicos com altas ondas em Pipeline, algumas surpresas, alto nível de surfe com direito a anúncio de novo campeão mundial (Mick Fanning), veio a final da terceira jóia da coroa Havaiana.

Na final do Billabong Pipeline Masters, as ondas não estavam tão boas. Mas a bateria era entre dois grandes surfistas e prometia uma batalha e tanto.

Todos esperavam a vitória de Kelly Slater que vinha surfando muito no evento e já tinha levado o segundo lugar em nada mais nada menos que o Eddie Aikau.

Kelly tinha um retrospecto de 70% das vitórias nos confrontos com Taj Burrow, mas Taj surpreendeu e saiu na frente na bateria com um surfe mais competitivo, mandando aéreos e viradas fortes enquanto Kelly estava a procura dos tubos que não vieram.

Deu Taj Burrow, o novo campeão do Billabong Pipeline Masters 2009.

“Não posso nem imaginar é inacreditável, um sentimento incrível ser campeão desse evento. Estou emocionado demais… Acho que é o melhor sentimento que eu poderia imaginar… ” Disse o campeão emocionado com o título.

O novo campeão mundial foi o australiano Mick Fanning, que garantiu seu segundo título no último sábado.

Já o título da Tríplice Coroa Havaiana foi para Joel Parkinson. Fanning, Taj e Parko receberam US$ 50 mil cada pelas conquistas no Hawaii.

Photo: Surfline Jeremiah Klein

Photo: Surfline Jeremiah Klein

Photo: Surfline Sean Rowland

Photo: Surfline Marcus Sanders

Photo: Surfline Marcus Sanders

Confira aqui uma galeria de imagens desse super evento. Fotos Surfline.com

Resultado final do Billabong Pipeline Masters 2009

1 Taj Burrow (Aus)

2 Kelly Slater (EUA)

3 Dean Morrison (Aus)

3 Dane Reynolds (EUA)

5 Damien Hobgood (EUA)

5 Flynn Novak (Haw)

5 Bede Durbidge (Aus)

5 CJ Hobgood (EUA)

17 Adriano de Souza (Bra)

33 Heitor Alves (Bra)

33 Jihad Khodr (Bra)

VANS TRIPLE CROWN FINAL TOP 3 (Men’s):

1 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 6694 points

2 – C.J. Hobgood (USA) 6213 points

3 – Torrey Meister (HAW) 5775 points

!versão em português!

English version

Burrow Wins Billabong Pipe Masters, Parkinson Claims Vans Triple Crown

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Taj Burrow (AUS), 31, has claimed the 2009 Billabong Pipe Masters, defeating fellow Finalist Kelly Slater (USA), 37, in clean three-to-five foot (1 – 1.5 metre) waves at the Banzai Pipeline.

The final event of the 2009 ASP World Tour season, the Billabong Pipe Masters culminated the Vans Triple Crown (an ASP Specialty Series), and provided non-stop, high-caliber action from the outset.

Burrow wasted little time in putting Slater on the ropes in the 35-minute Final, racking up a 7.00 out of a possible 10 on his opening ride for an electric air reverse followed by some solid forehand maneuvers. With deteriorating conditions, Burrow stayed busy before collecting a 5.83 for an incredible full-rotation alley-oop, putting the pressure on Slater as time ran out.

Today’s victory mark’s Burrow’s first ASP World Tour win since 2007 and his first-ever win at the infamous Banzai Pipeline.

“This win feels about as good as you could imagine,” Burrow said. “For me, winning this contest is the next best thing to winning a World Title. This is the one and only event that everyone would probably pick to win and I can’t believe I’m standing here right now. It’s an amazing feeling. There are so many tough guys that you go up against in this event that I thought it was out of my reach. This is the best victory of my career.”

Burrow, who has long been considered a legitimate ASP World Title contender, is thrilled with his finish to the 2009 season looks forward to 2010 with renewed vigor and hunger to hunt down the ever-elusive ASP crown.

Slater looked near unbeatable throughout the Billabong Pipe Masters, deftly maneuvering his 5’11” craft through one incredible tube after another before running into Burrow in the Finals. While his opponent stayed busy throughout the bout, Slater waited patiently for scoring opportunities that never manifested.

“Unfortunately the Final had the absolute worst conditions of the contest, but there are still fun waves out there,” Slater said. “You could go out for a free surf and have a good time. It’s difficult to transition when you’re already expecting one thing. I had already had a couple of heats with barrels and then all of a sudden it’s completely different conditions. Still, there’s a shallow reef there, so you’re expecting one to throw out and barrel, but it just didn’t happen.”

The former nine-time ASP World Champion was in the hunt for an unprecedented seventh Pipe Masters title, but the conditions didn’t cooperate for the Floridian, despite finding the only barrel of the Final, scoring a 3.93 out of a possible 10.

“I thought the wave would be more than a three,” Slater said. “I still needed two waves, basically. There really weren’t any nine-point rides out there and had that been only a six I would have needed a seven. I thought the judges put me in a weird situation there, and in the end, nothing else came. Well, that’s not entirely true. I caught that last wave and did an off-the-top and Taj (Burrow) took off on it and just kicked off the side. He almost stood up too late and could have got an interference. Had he done that he would have only been judged on one wave. Had I landed that air reverse I could have gotten a score, but it was a long shot.”

In terms of returning in 2010 for an unprecedented 10th ASP World Title, Slater is characteristically guarded.

“I don’t know if I’m going to do the tour full-time next year,” Slater said. “I’m sort of feeling it out. I’ve just competed for so many years, doing the same thing and going to the same places, it’s a little monotonous. When you find some meaning in it and it’s bigger than just going and surfing, then it becomes more exciting, but, unfortunately, this year I had a pretty lackluster year in a lot of ways, both personally and competitively and it probably showed in my surfing.”

Joel Parkinson (AUS), 28, was in the running for the 2009 ASP World Title before bowing out of the Billabong Pipe Masters in Round 3 of competition. Although Gold Coast stable mate Mick Fanning (AUS), 28, claimed the 2009 ASP World Title, Parkinson’s efforts throughout the Vans Triple Crown (an ASP Specialty Series) saw the talented natural-footer awarded with his second consecutive Vans Triple Crown Title as well as a bonus $50,000 from the Vans Triple Threat prize pool.

“This is my consolation prize to this year’s ASP World Title,” Parkinson said. “To me, the Triple Crown is the next best thing to the World Title. Last year I wanted to win the Vans Triple Crown and this year I wanted to win the ASP World Title, but I won the Triple Crown and I’m over the moon with what happened this year. I should be proud of everything I’ve done and I can’t wait for next year and I’ll be back strong for another Triple Crown and all that and I just want to thank Vans for stepping it up to a new level for putting out huge incentives for us.”

While the 2009 season has come to a close, the 2010 ASP World Tour is just around the corner, and will set new benchmarks in performance as it continues to showcase the world’s best surfers in the world’s best waves.

Source: www.billabongpro.com and www.triplecrownofsurfing.com

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A terceira jóia da coroa e final do Vans Triple Crown of Surfing – Billabong Pipeline Masters começou no dia 10/12/2009 com ondas de 6 a 10 pés, não tão grandes mas com boas condições de surf na lendária praia Banzai Pipeline.

Source: Surfline Photo: Jeremiah Klein

Photo: Surfline by Sean Rowland

…

Não se trata de uma competição de Big Surf mas é um dos mais tradicionais eventos de surf mundial. E com tanta coisa em jogo e uma super premiarão como essa, tínhamos que dar a notícia aqui no CarlosBurle.com.

E realmente, há muita coisa em jogo neste evento: um título mundial do ASP em uma batalha entre Joel Parkinson e Mick Fanning (amigos de infância), um campeão do Pipe Masters – que pode ser qualquer um dos competidores e um título da Tríplica Coroa Havaiana numa outra disputa, desta vez entre Joel Parkinson e Sunny Garcia.

Para dar um gás a mais nessa história, a Vans (patrocinadore oficial do evento) colocou em jogo um prêmio extra de de 50 mil dólares para cada título.

Photo: Surfline by Tyler Cuddy

De fato, alto nível de surfe e boas ondas eram de se esperar, mas algumas surpresas apimentaram e deram um sabor especial ao primeiro dia de competição.Por exemplo, Sunny Garcia chegou atrasado para sua bateria e não pôde competir. Acabou sendo substituído e depois de muita conversa com os organizadores do evento, ficará como suplente e poderá ainda ter uma chance de surfar, caso alguém falte ou se atrase no segundo dia de competição.

Photo: Surfline by Jeremiah Klein

Outra surpresa, foi o francês Michael Picon, que foi o destaque do dia com a melhor apresentação. Picon parecia estar em casa e pegou dois tubos espetaculares no Backdoor (a direita de Pipeline) que renderam notas 9.83 e 9.93.Na primeira onda muita gente disse que foi sorte, mas logo em seguida ele peou outra onda sensacional e a galera teve que se render. O cara estava demais mesmo.

Para encerrar as surpresas do dia, o local de Pipeline Jamie O´Brien, famoso por detonar nas ondas de Pipe, não deu sorte e foi eliminado logo de cara pelo australiano Phil MacDonald.

Photo: Surfline by Jeremiah Klein

Photo: Surfline by Sean Rowland

Fora as surpresas, os irmãos Bruce e Andy Irons fizeram boas apresentações e venceram as baterias que participaram. Bruce já está no terceiro round e Andy aguarda para disputar o segundo.

Uma nova chamada para a retomada do evento pode acontecer a qualquer momento nesta sexta-feira (11/12) ou sábado (12/12).

Fique ligado para mais informações em nossa próximas atualizações.

Não perca um segundo de ação, porque a história está sendo escrita!
Big Surfers, Big prêmios e muita adrenalina.

Confira o evento ao vivo direto no site www.triplecrownofsurfing.com

Mais informações em: www.aspworldtour.com

!versão em português!

English version!
Billabong Pipeline Masters Day 1 Wrap-Up
Round 1 of the third jewel in the Vans Triple Crown – the Billabong Pipeline Masters – completed today in 6-10 ft surf at the Banzai Pipeline.

Michael Picon (FRA), 30, current ASP World No. 39, is in need of an impressive result in the final event of the year to secure his position amongst the world’s elite in 2010. Today, the Frenchman put the rest of the draw on notice, first eliminating wildcard Manoa Drollet (PYF) before posting the highest heat total of the event, a 19.76 out of a possible 20, for a brilliant backhand tube-riding approach to take out Josh Kerr (AUS), 25, in the final heat of the day.

“That was the best heat of my life,” Picon said. “I was just trying to build momentum and I feel like all of the training I’ve done is paying off. It’s great to have this heat at Pipeline and in Hawaii. Today was all about the rights. We all knew that. I was going for the right too. I figured I’d go for the death, whatever.”

To vault himself ahead the current qualification cutoff point, Picon will have to finish third or better at the Billabong Pipeline Masters, but the calculated Frenchman remains calm heading into the remainder of the event.

“I’m trying not to think about it,” Picon said. “I’m just thinking about having a good heat and having a good contest here because it’s always been a dream for me to do well at Pipeline. I’m just really confident after that heat.”

John John Florence (HAW), 16, the Billabong Pipeline Masters’ youngest competitor, was a tour du force in his Round 1 heat, posting an impressive 17.20 out of a possible 20, to defeat fellow Hawaiian wildcard Danny Fuller (HAW), 27.

“With four guys out at Pipe I was going crazy and just trying to get every wave I could,” Florence said. “Yesterday was big and messy and today’s conditions have really cleaned up. This morning was fun, but this afternoon’s wind has made it really good. Growing up here, I really looked up to all the local guys for inspiration and advice out here. To be competing in the Pipe Masters is an honor and I hope I have the opportunity to surf through a few more rounds.”

Florence will take on current ASP World No. 27, Heitor Alves (BRA), 27, in Heat 12 of Round 2 when competition resumes.

Andy Irons (HAW), 31, former three-time ASP World Champion and former four-time Pipe Master Champion, showed a return to form today recovering from an early heat double-interference collision with opponent Marcus Hickman (HAW), 30, and rallying with a dominant performance in the Backdoor righthanders. Although on sabbatical from full-time competition this season, Irons’ return to the ASP World Tour in 2010 has been highly-anticipated by the surfing world.

“I’ve decided to be on the world tour next year and just being in a jersey is a good warm-up for it,” Irons said. “I definitely feel like I’m in a better position going into next season after taking this year off.”

Irons will take on current ASP World No. 25, Drew Courtney (AUS), 30, in Heat 16 of Round 2 when the Billabong Pipeline Masters recommences.

Andy wasn’t the only Irons to make a dent in today’s competition as younger brother and former ASP World Tour campaigner, Bruce Irons (HAW), 30, took down lethal Californian Tim Reyes (USA), 27, in Round 2 of competition.

Torrey Meister (HAW), 21, wildcard into the Billabong Pipeline Masters, was the first alternate called to action when Sunny Garcia (HAW), 39, failed to show for his Round 1 heat. Despite arriving late to the lineup, Meister put in an inspired performance in both the Backdoor rights and the Pipeline lefts to net a 16.83 out of a possible 20 to overtake Nic Muscroft (AUS), 27.

“I don’t know what happened,” Meister said. “I expected Sunny (Garcia) to turn up and I was sitting on the beach getting tired watching the waves. It was firing and I couldn’t get too antsy because I didn’t know if I was going to get into the event, but I’m happy that I did. I guess it’s kind of an advantage to get in this way, because I didn’t have time to get nervous before my heat.”

Meister will face current ASP World No. 16, Kai Otton (AUS), 29, in the first heat when competition resumes.

Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 6:30am to assess conditions for a possible 8am start.

Live at www.triplecrownofsurfing.com

Source www.triplecrownofsurfing.com