Contributing Gear Editor
Staff

The Inertia

Day two is a wrap at the Billabong Pro Pipeline and there have already been lots of excitement and upsets for the women. The conditions were less than ideal, meaning that the women had to be selective and read the waves well.

In heat one of the elimination round, we saw a match up between rookie Caitlin Simmers, injury replacement Alyssa Spencer, and defending champ Stephanie Gilmore. Simmers was in top form, ultimately winning the heat and eliminating Gilmore in the process. In heat two, wildcard Teresa Bonvalot defeated tour veterans Isabella Nichols and Courtney Conlogue.

In heat two of the women’s round of 16, Lakey Peterson took down defending Pipe Pro champ Moana Jones Wong, eliminating Wong and along with it her dreams of back to back wins.  Another standout performance came from Molly Picklum in heat six, who claimed the first excellent score in the women’s event: an 8.0 Backdoor barrel. Another standout moment was when Betttylou Sakura Johnson defeated Caroline Marks and earned herself a spot in the quarterfinals.

“I learned a lot about myself and how badly I wanted to get back on the tour and how hungry I was for it,” Sakura Johnson says of her time on the Challenger Series. “Just knowing all those grateful moments and those bad and good times—I’m hungry for it and I want to do better than last year.”

Swell is on the way and in the quarterfinals it will be Brisa Hennessy versus Lakey Peterson, Tatiana Weston-Webb versus Tyler Wright, Carissa Moore versus Molly Picklum, and Gabriela Bryan versus Bettylou Sakura Johnson. At this point, it’s still anyone’s game and should make for an exciting wrap to the Billabong Pro Pipeline.

 
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