John John Florence Wins The 2012 Volcom Pipe Pro

Despite a ferocious start by Jamie O’Brien, 19-year old John John Florence rallies from behind in the dying minutes of the final to win his second Volcom Pipe Pro in row.

A stiff neck and stitches in the palm of his hand were not enough to slow down John John John Florence today at the Banzai Pipeline. The 19-year old prodigal son of Pipe overcame his good friend and the guy who showed him the ropes out there, Jamie O’Brien, to seal his second Volcom Pipe Pro win in a row and cement his status as one of the best ever at the world’s deadliest wave.

Jamie O’Brien started the final out with two nine point rides right off the bat and the majority of the beach thought it was over after just a few minutes. But John John was not to be denied. He started his comeback with a perfect ten-point ride (which earned him $1000 from Electric Visual) on a long Pipeline barrel but still needed a high nine to overtake JOB. With less than a minute on the clock, a set appeared on the horizon and John John had a chance—albeit a longshot—to make his move. He stroked into what looked like a giant left but quickly realized he was too deep to make it and went right at the last second. “I was gonna go right,” said the Champ after, “but at the last second I had to right.” Adding to the drama of his comeback was John John congratulating Jamie O before the final was even over—he actually paddled over to JOB and gave him a congratulatory hug before seeing the heat winning wave rear its head on the horizon, “With 40 seconds to go I wasn’t even thinking about it. I was like ‘Yeah Jamie, congratulations, I won last year and I’m stoked for you.’”

After seeing every face of Pipeline the 2012 Volcom Pipe Pro can be summed up in one word: Epic. We saw windy, head high Backdoor and Pipe, massive 10-15+ foot third reef Pipeline, and today, flawless, double overhead Pipe and Backdoor. Major thanks, or as they say here in the islands, mahalos, go out to the entire hard-working crew at Volcom, Kimo and the boys running event security, ASP Hawaii, Electric Visual, Turtle Bay Resort, Tr3ees, Marty Thomas, Tai Van Dyke, FUEL TV, and everyone else involved with the event.

2012 Volcom Pipe Pro Results:
1) John John Florence $20,000
2) Jamie O’Brien $10,000
3) Kai Barger $6,500
4) Nate Yeomans $5,500

Todd Chesser Memorial Award Given To The Hardest-Charging Surfer
Carlos Muñoz (Cost Rica)

ELECTRIC Perfect 10 Awards $1000 cash money
Dylan Graves (Puerto Rico)
Balaram Stack (New York)
Dusty Payne (Maui) *donated his winnings to the “Live Like Sion” Foundation
John John Florence (Oahu)
Carlos Muñoz (Costa Rica)

Next up for Volcom is their Volcom Fiji Pro, June 3-15 – the fourth of 11 events that comprise the ASP World Tour.

A full two-hour highlight program of this week’s Volcom Pipe Pro will air on Fuel TV this Saturday at 7:30 PM ET/4:30 PM PT. For more information, check your local listings or go to www.fuel.tv .

RESULTS:
FINAL
1st – John John Florence (HAW) 19.93pts, $20,000
2nd – Jamie O’Brien (HAW) 19.40pts, $10,000
3rd – Kai Barger (HAW) 18.20pts, $6,500
4th – Nathan Yeomans (CA, USA) 7.57pts, $5,500

SEMI FINALS
H1: Jamie O’Brien (HAW) 17.77pts ; Kai Barger (HAW) 17.10pts ; Billy Kemper (HAW) 7.90pts ; Tanner Hendrickson (HAW) 5.10pts
H2: John John Florence (HAW) 13.56pts ; Nathan Yeomans (USA) 12.83pts ; Bruce Irons (HAW) 12.40pts ; Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY) 7.44pts

QUARTERS
H1: Billy Kemper (HAW) 12.00pts ; Jamie O’Brien (HAW) 11.87pts ; Tim Reyes (USA) 9.10pts ; Gabe Kling (USA) 6.63pts
H2 : Kai Barger (HAW) 14.66pts ; Tanner Hendrickson (HAW) 14.50pts ; Flynn Novak (HAW) 10.83pts ; Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 3.63
H3 : Nathan Yeomans (USA) 13.27pts ; Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY) 12.50pts ; Carlos Munoz (CRI) 11.50pts ; Kalani Chapman (HAW) 4.77pts
H4: John John Florence (HAW) 16.34pts ; Bruce Irons (HAW) 13.00pts ; Alexander Grey (USA) 8.40pts ; Mitch Coleborn (AUS) 4.84pts

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