Irons continued his march toward surfing's world championship by dominating his first-round heat of the Rip Curl Cup. The first round of the contest was completed yesterday in wave faces that ranged from 6 to 12 feet at Sunset Beach.

Irons, who is from Hanalei, Kaua'i, is currently ranked No. 1 on the World Championship Tour. As long as he keeps winning heats in the Rip Curl Cup, no other surfer can catch him in the standings. "I don't know the stats," said Irons, 24. "I'm just surfing heat by heat and trying not to pay attention to all that's going on."

Best single wave
Irons recorded the best scores of the first round with a two-wave total of 16.75 (out of 20). He also had the best single wave of the day, a 9.75 for a long barrel ride. "I was trying to hold Pancho (Sullivan) off the wave," Irons said. "I thought it was going to close out, but I didn't want him to get it. As I was dropping in, I saw the thing start to barrel, so I just went for it."

Sullivan, who is from O'ahu's North Shore, won the pre-contest trials event to earn a shot against Irons. With the first-round victory, Irons received a bye in the second round. "Every heat's important," he said. "So going straight to the third round is big."

Pressure of second round heat
Even bigger, several of Irons' closest competitors did not win first-round heats yesterday, and will now have to compete in the elimination second round. Australians Luke Egan, Taj Burrow, Michael Lowe, Joel Parkinson and Mick Fanning - Nos. 2 through 6, respectively - will all have to compete in the second round. A slip-up by any of those contenders in the second round will remove them from Irons' path.

Two other Hawai'i surfers, Shane Dorian and Myles Padaca, won first-round heats yesterday (Sunny Garcia won his first-round heat earlier in the week). While most of the first-round winners were racking up points with barrel rides, Dorian won his heat with a series of impressive carving maneuvers. His two-wave score of 15.75 was second best to Irons for the day. "I've surfed out here all my life and I've won here before," Dorian said. "So I feel like I have a little bit of an advantage. But basically at Sunset Beach, the guy that gets the best wave wins."

Padaca would like to see Irons win
Padaca, the defending Rip Curl Cup champion, won his heat with a barrel ride, and helped Irons in the process by beating No. 2 Egan. "I have nothing against (Egan), he's a great guy," Padaca said. "But I'd like to see Andy win the world title."

The Rip Curl Cup is the second of three contests in the prestigious Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. Garcia won the first contest, the Vans Hawaiian Pro at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach.

[Source: Honolulu Advertiser]

Mail this page to a friend
What do you think? Tell us in the Chat Room