John John Florence -- Hawaii's super grom -- handed Dane Reynolds a dose of his own medicine Friday, landing a dramatic air reverse 360 that helped knock Reynolds out of the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro. Reynolds was wave starved for much of the heat, and despite a late charge on the lefts, he fell short in the end. Aussie Blake Thornton won the heat with a solid carving performance.

This is the second event in a row that Reynolds has been shot down by the same kind of progressive surfing he's famous for. And John John isn't the only young gun dishing out the pain.

Kolohe Andino, California's 16-year-old golden boy, is making the most of his wild card opportunity. On Thursday, Brother advanced out of his Round of 96 heat in the closing moments, after sticking a solid aerial reverse, edging Marco Polo and Brian Toth.

He followed it up with a much-more impressive showing Friday morning against some powerful ASP standouts, including Billabong Pro winner Jadson Andre and Adam Robertson, who finished 2nd place at Bells in 2009 as a wild card.





Kolohe and Jadson thrilled the crowd with a nice little aerial dogfight in their heat, with Kolohe getting the better of an exchange where they split the peak.

While Jadson threw some beautiful carves, Brother blew his tail out on his first big turn, and finished with an aerial reverse.

But Jadson got his revenge in the closing moments, landing one of the craziest inverted aerial reverses imaginable. The 9.0 he earned thrust Andre past Andino for the heat win, but both surfers advanced.

Oddly enough, both Andino and Andre lost early in the Oakley Pro Junior earlier this week, due to interference calls. Now they're busy taking out their frustration on the big boys.

After knocking out Dane Reynolds, Florence came out on top in an afternoon duel with three-time world champion Andy Irons in Round Four. Both surfers advanced out of the three man heat, but there was clearly a lot of pride at stake in the perfect Lowers conditions.

Spectators at Trestles on Friday were witness to what was arguably the most progressive surfing even seen in competition. Lower's skate-park conditions and the most talented field of competitors ever assembled for an event of this size has been a powerful mix.

The major theme has been the rise of a new generation, which, thanks to the ASP's new format, is getting a crack at taking on the elite World Tour surfers at a dream tour location like Trestles. They're taking the opportunity to send some warning shots. Florence's progressive aerial assault carried him over the top of Andy's hard carves, but Andino ended up losing in Round Four to tour veterans Chris Davidson and Ace Buchan.

Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson will begin their ASP World Title showdown Saturday in what's expected to be epic conditions at Pipeline. But it's obvious they've got a lot more to worry about than each other, because the threat from this year's trialists and wild card entries is more lethal than ever.

Andy and Bruce Irons, John John Florence and Shane Dorian will be relishing their spoiler roles. And they're just the tip of a long Hawaiian spear that has already impaled a number of ASP stars struggling to survive. Torrey Meister, Hank Gaskell, Liam McNamara, Flynn Novak and Gavin Gillette have crushed more than a few dreams already. And the casualties are likely to keep mounting.

Yesterday, Bruce Irons closed the door on Timmy Reyes, who is now headed back to the minor leagues after a lackluster season.

Today, Andy Irons dealt Australia's Drew Courtney a similar fate. Both Reyes and Courtney needed only to advance out of one heat to stay above the line and make next year's tour.

Hawaiians Flynn Novak and Hank Gaskel, who qualified via the WQS contest at Pipe last winter, knocked out Tahiti's Michel Bourez and Australia's Ben Dunn, who, coming into the final event of the season, were sitting 21st and 22nd respectively. Luckily for both, almost everyone in their vicinity was knocked out too, so they stand a good chance of survival. But Roy Powers and Ace Buchan are hoping to pounce.

And one of the most talked about threats now is 16-year-old grom, John John Florence, who, while playing in his back yard out at Pipe, held a clinic today at Backdoor---undoubtedly stoked to be sharing the lineup with only three other surfers. "There are so many perfect waves coming in it was just crazy," he said, "It was really fun out there." Of course, his fun was somebody else's pain. Heitor Alvez's 2010 tour chances were ended by Florence.

With new ASP seeding rules going into effect in 2010, there's much more at stake at Pipeline. Making the Top 10 will earn surfers a late round seed all year. Making the Top 16 will earn a late round seed through the first half of the season. But everyone who qualifies will be instantly put on notice, since the field of 48 will be reduced to 32 by mid-season. The better your seed now, the better the your chances of survival.

Oh yeah, then there's that little title race thing. Mick Fanning has a clear advantage over Parko at this point. At last check Parko has to make it to the semifinals even if Fanning bombs. Both will have tough draws; Fannign will face Meister while Parko is up against Gavin Gillete, so anything is possible.

Stay tuned...This is going to get good.

BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Dean Morrison (AUS)
Heat 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Torrey Meister (HAW)
Heat 3: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Andy Irons (HAW)
Heat 4: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. John John Florence (HAW)
Heat 5: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Flynn Novak (HAW)
Heat 6: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Michael Picon (FRA)
Heat 7: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. Chris Ward (USA)
Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Hank Gaskell (HAW)
Heat 9: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Liam McNamara (HAW)
Heat 10: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 11: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Bruce Irons (HAW)
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Dayyan Neve (AUS)
Heat 13: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Phillip MacDonald (AUS)
Heat 14: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Shane Dorian (HAW)
Heat 15: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Gavin Gillette (HAW)
Heat 16: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)

There's a bit of role reversal happening on the ASP world stage this week. While the ASP World Tour is underway in Brazil in clean-ish 4-to-6 foot mush burgers, the WQS has morphed into the actual Dream Tour, if only for a day, as the 6-Star Mr. Price Pro is scoring absolutely flawless Ballito Bay in South Africa.

Usually, the Mr. Price Pro takes place in Durban, which typically dishes out 2-to3 foot slop. But this year officials wisely decided to move the event 20 miles north in the hopes of scoring better surf, a decision that has proven to be a great one as the event got underway just in time to catch one of the best swells of the year.

It takes one hell of a storm to make the reef at Kalk Bay work. Tucked inside the large protected zone of False Bay, so named by sailors who mistakenly entered it thinking they'd rounded South Africa's famous Cape, the reef manages to produce a high quality wave amidst the chaos of a severe Roaring Forties storm. Fortunately, that's exactly what bore down on Cape Town during the final days of the 4-Star Cold Water Classic, the latest in Oneill's unique six contest series.

While the outer waters were ravaged by the storm remnants left over by the 40-foot swells that had washed through the day before, Kalk Bay's hollow lefthander held up nicely, producing consistent shacks for the final 16 competitors left standing. Jordy Smith, who was on hand more as an ambassador than a serious competitor since he's currently ranked in number six in the world, wasn't too distraught by his loss to Australia's Glenn Hall. He was actually laughing about the wipeout he took attempting a late takeoff on a hollow little slab.

Hawaiian grom John John Florence was also on hand, surfing well on his way into the man-on-man round of 16, but fell to South Africa's Royden Bryson, who looked strong all day at Kalk Bay while advancing into the final Yet by the time Bryson got into the Semifinals, he was the only South African left standing, with three Aussies standing in his way. Glenn Hall, Jarrad Howse and Maroubra's Blake Thornton, a relative unknown who obviously knows a thing or two about slabs, decimated the local contingent.

In the end, Thornton, 24, and the Bryson, a former ASP World Tour star, squared off in the final in what amounted to a very cool little tube duel, with Thornton hoisting the the faux shark jaws and the check for $12,000. The result is another solid one for Thornton, who was rated 9th on the WQS entering the event. The win should move him up a couple slots, just above Pat Gudauskas.

The next stop on the O'Neill ColdWater Classic Series will be in Canada, for the first ever 6-Star to be held in the Maple Leaf country.

Meanwhile on the other half of the world, the 4-Star WQS Cold Water Classic is well underway in and around Cape Town, which is supposed to be slammed by a huge 40-foot swell in the next 24 hours. According to our forecasters in the region it looks like the contest will be moved into the very protected area of False Bay, which sits on the other side of the Cape, should the swell be as big as predicted. There are a couple really good reef breaks that could be firing, including Kalk Bay, which could be 4-to-6 foot and firing. O'Neill's Marketing Manager, Paul Canning, a former world tour star, has a number of options up his sleeves on the peninsula. "We' (TM)ve asked for a permit at a left hand point break called Thermopylae
in the city,' he said. ' It should be 10 to 12 feet and offshore.'


As they head into the Round of 16, Jordy Smith and John John Florence are the most notable names remaining in the event that's understandably being dominated by South Africans. Hawaii's Granger Larson made the trek down there, and surfed well in the freezing water's of the Cape, but lost in Round Four. If he's smart, he'll be hitching a ride up to J-Bay or Cape St. Francis to ride out what is looking to be a remarkable swell.

South Africans are bracing for their annual invasion of international talent, which will hit overdrive in the the Mr. Price Pro, a 6-Star Prime WQS event, followed by the fifth stop on the ASP world tour, the Billabong Pro at J-Bay. According to Billabong Pro contest director Mike Parsons, "It's been a really god season down there for waves already. Let's just hope it holds up for next month."