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COURTESY WSL
Soli Bailey scored a 7.33 and 5.93 in 8- to 12-foot waves to win the Volcom Pipe Pro on Thursday.
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Australia’s Soli Bailey rose to the occasion, surfing to victory in the Volcom Pipe Pro at Ehukai Beach on Thursday.
Each of Bailey’s two scoring waves totaled more than any one wave of the three other competitors in the final. He scored a 7.33 and a 5.93 in the 8- to 12-foot waves to leave former world champion Adriano de Souza of Brazil (second), Griffin Colapinto of Mission Viejo, Calif. (third), and Bruce Irons of Kauai (fourth) behind.
Bailey’s 7.33 was a double barrel with a solid front-side turn.
“This is definitely the biggest (win) of my career,” Bailey said. “There’s been a few tough losses last year and whatnot, and I think I’ve just learned from them and to come here and stay cool, calm and collected right through the final, then take it out is just … it’s a dream come true and one step closer to where I want to be.”
Haleiwa’s John John Florence, the reigning World Surf League champion, was eliminated in the semifinals.
The Volcom Pipe Pro is a WSL qualifying series event. The QS is a feeder tour for the WSL’s world tour.
De Souza, the 2015 world champion, scored a 9.5 on a wave in an earlier round by getting covered up in a Backdoor barrel and doing a soul arch on his way out.
There’s only been four winners in the eight-year history of the contest — Hawaii’s Jamie O’Brien in 2010, Florence in ’11, ’12, ’13 and ’15, 11-time world champion Kelly Slater in ’14 and ’16 and now Bailey, who pocketed the $12,000 first-place check.