Andy Irons beats Kelly Slater to win Pipeline Masters

Hawaii has seen the close of both the Men's and the Women's ASP world tour. In a nail-biting finish to the Women's tour, Layne Beachley claimed her seventh world title and on the Men's tour, although Kelly Slater had already claimed his eighth world title, the last event of the year produced what many claim to be the best final ever seen at the 36-year-old Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters, Andy Irons (HAW) claiming a heroic victory over long-time rival Kelly Slater (USA), Cory Lopez (USA) and Rob Machado (USA).

In typical style, Slater began the final at lightning speed, chalking up a 9.00 and a 7.40 within the first eight minutes but Irons is renowned for fighting to the end and fought back with an amazing 9.87 and a killer 10 to finish.

Melanie Bartels wins at Sunset

Last minute entrant, Melanie Bartels (HAW), has won the 2006, Roxy Pro Hawaii at Sunset Beach, Hawaii, beating other from wildcard entrant, Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), to win her first-ever ASP Women’s World Tour event.
Finishing third at Sunset Beach was local Rochelle Ballard. Last year's Roxy Pro Hawaii champion Chelsea Georgeson finished in fourth place, while world No. 1 Layne Beachley and world No. 2 Melanie Redman-Carr went out in the semifinals. This means that the top three in the Women's world rankings are all in contention for the 2006 world title and that the championship will be decided at the last ASP event of the series, in Maui next week.