After a week long flat spell which saw an incredible lack of surf on Oahu's North Shore, Backdoor Pipeline finally got out of bed yesterday, providing two days of rifling barrels, culminating in a maiden World Tour victory for Reunion Island's Jeremy Flores.

As the day began, the quarterfinals were stacked with familiar faces: Kelly, Jordy, Dane, Ace, all having had their share of great results this year, and are no strangers to the final day at Pipeline.

Throughout the day, the rights at Backdoor were very inconsistent, but when the bombs did come through huge scores were being dropped. With two man heats and inconsistent waves on offer, rhythm with the ocean became the name of the game. Taylor Knox was unable to find a single scoring ride in his quarterfinal against Dane Reynolds, who effortlessly netted a 17 point heat total. In his very next heat against Kieren Perrow, Dane didn't paddle for a single wave until there were 5 minutes left in the 30, and finished with only one wave ridden.

Big upsets were fueled by the feast or famine conditions Thursday, including last minute come-from-behind victories by both Flores and Perrow over Slater and Jordy. Jeremy edged Slater by .77 in the semis with a buzzer beater under Kelly's priority.

The final itself wasn't short on drama either.

Perrow held a commanding lead through 28 minutes of the 30-minute final, but a tactical error with 2 minutes to go left the door open for Jeremy as a big set lurched onto the first reef. Flores rode a big backdoor pit to perfection for a 9.37 and the victory, leaving Perrow to watch his Pipe Masters crown float away.

Joel Parkinson had a great day as well, despite watching from the beach, as he claimed his third Triple Crown Title today when Ace Buchan lost his quarterfinal heat against Kelly Slater. After the heat, Kelly Slater pointed at the camera and smiled: "Parko's buying drinks tonight."



FINAL
1-Jeremy Flores
2-Kieren Perrow

SEMI-FINAL
1-Jeremy Flores 17.50
2-Kelly Slater 17.23

1-Kieren Perrow 15.03
2-Dane Reynolds 6.83

QUARTER-FINAL
1-Jeremy Flores 14.00
2-Owen Wright 7.43

1-Kelly Slater 12.94
2-Adrian Buchan 3.16

1-Kieren Perrow 13.00
2-Jordy Smith 12.00

1-Dane Reynolds 17.00
2-Taylor Knox 3.37