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Rob Machado wins Monster Energy Pro in Hawaii
by George Mojo
23/02/2006:// Retired professional surfer Rob Machado tamed towering 10ft surf to win the Monster Energy Pro in Hawaii.
The Californian proved he lost none of his talent or style in the five years since he won the Pipeline Masters before retiring.
Thirty-two-year-old Machado defeated a string of surfers collectively regarded as the current breed of "Pipeline Specialists".
Not only that, he sealed the deal on the biggest and most critical wave of the tournament that rolled through in the closing minutes of the final, scoring a perfect 10 and postingthe highest heat score of the competition - 19.17 points out of a possible 20.
The victory at the famous North Shore of Oahu reef puts him in equal first place on the World Quallifying Series tour.
Haleiwa local Fred Patacchia was runner up in the final, finishing ahead of Maui's Ian Walsh, Peruvian Gabriel Villaran.
Defending event champion Pancho Sullivan was eliminated in the semi-finals, finishing equal seventh overall.
Without doubt, the entire event will be remembered by Machado's perfect 10 of the final, which unquestionably eclipsed all others.
Enjoying a rare moment of sitting alone in the world's most prestigious surf lineup, a dark line pushed forward from the horizon, arriving onto the reef as a flawless, A-frame peak that pitched skyward with a wave face of at least 18 feet.
Machado threw himself into a free-falling drop, hooked his left hand into the face of the wave to allow his surfboard to connect on the bottom turn and then pulled up into a heaving tube large enough to be a car-wash. After breath-taking seconds, Machado was blown out of the tube with the spray, in disbelief.
"I was that close to pulling back," said Machado. "I just threw myself over. I was like, 'This is the final. Who cares if I (wipeout), break my board, break myself? That's why you're in the final! "I kinda free-fell for a second, stuck it, and just tried to set my rail and pull up - and I did somehow. I just knew it was a big barrel, held on tight and the thing blew me out - it was great," he added.
What made the win even more special for Machado was that he won it having taken on the very best surfers of Pipeline.
Unlike the World Championship Tour event held at Pipeline, which only contains a handful of the local surfers who ride the wave best, the Monster Energy Pro lineup consists of almost every Pipeline charger on the books.
"These are all the guys who surf Pipe all year long," said Machado. "There are amazing surfers in this event. There's so many heats where you look at them and go, 'Wow, that could be a final'. These are the guys who are here day in and day out. They know the wave and they know the place."
In other results, Bonga Perkins won the Monster Energy Pro Longboard Expression Session while Honolulu's Randall Paulson was awarded the Todd Chesser Memorial Award, given to the surfer who best embodies a "go for it" attitude and good sportsmanship. Paulson finished equal ninth in the event after placing third in his quarter final heat.
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