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Boardfolio.com >> ASP World Tour News >> Local Wildcards Challenge World's Best

Hawaiian royalty: former ASP world champ, Pipe Master and surf legend Derek Ho making the late Duke Kahanamoku proud. Xbox Gerry Lopez Pipeline Masters (December 8-20, 2003) Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) www.aspworldtour.com World Championship Tour (WCT) Press Release Local Wildcards Challenge World's Best Friday, December 12, 2003 - (Pipeline, HAWAII) -- Nine local Hawaii surfers won wildcards into the opening round of the final jewel of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing today, in the trials of the Xbox Gerry Lopez Pipeline Masters. Following the withdrawal of several top 45 ranked surfers with injury, a larger number of wildcard slots opened up this year for local Pipeline specialists than normal. Barreling 6-10 foot surf offered an excellent opportunity for Hawaii's premier Pipeline surfers to show off their skills against the Association of Surfing Professional's (ASP) best in this, the final stop on the 2003 World Championship Tour. Making good of the opportunity were: Hawaii's Marcus Hickman, Bruce Irons, Fred Patacchia, Jamie O'Brien, Pancho Sullivan, Derek Ho, Kalani Chapman, Brian Pacheco and Jonah Morgan, who each advanced into the first round of the main event. O'Brien is the youngest in the event at 20 years of age, and Vans Triple Crown veteran Derek Ho is the oldest, at 39 years. Ho has won this event twice, in 1986 and 1993. While Sunset's Marcus Hickman was the last surfer to make it out of the trials, he emerged as the overall standout of the day, posting the first and only perfect 10 of the tournament so far in his opening heat this-morning. He later defeated seeded Australian surfers Daniel Wills and Tom Whitaker in the first round of the main event. A unique and dangerous wave like no other in the world, the famous Banzai Pipeline is known best by the local surfers who get to surf it all winter. As a result, local surfers who don't qualify to travel on the ASP tour all year are often more adept in the critical, large conditions when the tour comes to town for the Xbox Pipeline Masters each December. Hickman proved himself to be such a surfer today. "I don't have anything to loose," said 24-year-old Hickman. "I don't have the money to travel the world like these tour guys do, so I just try to make my mark here at home when I get the chance. I find it so much easier to surf against people I don't know, so there's so much less pressure for me in the main round than surfing against the guys in the trials that I grew up with and always surf with. "I'm really excited to see what happens. I was stoked to just get into the trials and then to hear that it was up to nine people getting out of the trials. I really squeaked in, as the highest placed third in the quarters, but I've got my chance now. "I don't recall being in the trials here before, so evidently I mustn't have done too well." By virtue of winning his first round heat, Hickman advances directly into the third round. Of the seven round one heats run this afternoon, two were won by local trialists. Joining Hickman in a ticket straight to round three was O'Brien, the youngest competitor in the event. In the third-last heat of the day, O'Brien pushed ASP Top 44 surfers Trent Munro (Aus) and Kieren Perrow (Aus) to their limit for the overall top scoring heat of the day. O'Brien took first with a two-wave total of 16.76 points to Munro's 15.73, and Perrow's 15.44. The scores of Munro and Perrow would have been enough to win any of the preceding first round heats, but weren't enough to overcome O'Brien, who literally lives with Pipeline in his front yard. Already with years of Pipeline experience under his belt, O'Brien is seen as one of the major contenders for this event, having reached the final of the Xbox in 2001, when he lost to Bruce Irons. Earlier this year, he won the Hansen's Pipeline Pro in huge 15-foot surf here. Current Vans Triple Crown of Surfing series leader Jake Paterson (Aus), the 1998 Xbox Pipe Masters champion, suffered an uncharacteristic first round loss and will be looking to redeem himself in round two tomorrow. If good conditions prevail tomorrow, the world title battle between Andy Iro ns (Haw) and Kelly Slater (Florida) will kick-start competition. Irons is set to surf the first heat of the morning when round one continues, followed immediately by Slater. While there are no eliminations from the first round, both surfers will be looking to avoid round two completely with a first round win. The Vans Triple Crown Series features the world's top athletes competing in three championship events in each of the following sports: Skateboarding, Wakeboarding, Surfing, Snowboarding, BMX and Freestyle Motocross. The Series is made possible through the support of Vans, the Xbox video game system from Microsoft, Mountain Dew, Ford Trucks, Right Guard Xtreme Sport, Fox Sports Net, Surfing Magazine, NBC Sports, the Turtle Bay Resort, RoadRunner. www.triplecrownofsurfing.com

Search Boardfolio.com Surfing Resources Surfing Culture Surfing Posters & Prints Surfing & Beach Calendars Surfing Books Shortboard Videos & DVD Longboard Videos & DVD Boardfolio Poster Store Drive Thru Australia - DVD Poor Specimen Productions presents Drive Thru Australia on DVD. 3 Surfers, 14 days, Australia. Starring Benji Weatherley, Donavon Frankenreiter, Rob Machado, Dean Morrison, Steve Irwin, Margo, Dylan Longbottom, Koby Abberton and Blow Up Kalani Robb. Round three! First they surfed down the coast of California. Then they took Japan by land, air and sea. Now the crew is taking OZ by storm. Donavon, Benji Weatherley, Rob Machado and the winter of 2003. A blowup doll, a couple RVs, a small crew and the long road down under. The Drive Thru Australia. Surfing down the east coast of OZ for 2 weeks, the crew meets up with Dean Morrison, Margo, and friends, score the best waves seen yet on any Drive Thru trip and even find time to chill with the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. On the road...AGAIN!   Support Your Surf Community Free Ad Space on Boardfolio.com

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