The Rio Pro Recap, John John Florence Wins

Get used to the sight of John John being carried up the beach

Say what you want about the waves in Rio but for a second year in a row the Rio Pro delivered!!! By no means were the waves epic but as far as watching and following a contest goes it was as good as it gets! Insane barrels, ridiculous airs, good judging, and intense battles in the line-up!!!

John John finally found what he's been looking for, a World Tour Victory!!!!  Man did he earn it too! Pretty much just steam rolled through the contest comboing his competitors at the drop of a hat. He had Joel up against the ropes six minutes into the final so bad that Joel hardly made it out of combo land by heats end.

What's crazy is that out of all the contest on tour this year this is the one I would least expect John John to do well at. The fact that he won here says a lot about what we're going to see for the rest of the year.  Looking forward to the coming months there are five, yes FIVE, events that John John will be heavily favored to make quarters, semis, and finals. Tavarua, Teahupoo, France, Portugal, and Pipe are all going to be barrel shoot outs and it's no secret that John John is the BEST barrel rider on the tour, maybe the planet.  If John John maintains his current form the title race will be coming down to two names this year...

JOHN JOHN FLORENCE & KELLY SLATER.....

As far as the rest of the field went Josh Kerr, Julian Wilson, Joel Parko, Mick Fanning, and Alejo Muniz all looked amazingly in form and surfed so well.  The wonder boy, Gabriel Medina, who came in riding his recent Trestles win absolutely flopped losing in the opening round... Big surprise for a lot of people... Not so surprising, Taylor Knox earned his 3rd 25th finish of the year, how stoked is he that they did away with the mid year cut off this year???

Now looking at the Pioneers Fantasy Surfer Club we've seen some places change hand!  Coming in as the club winner for the Rio Pro,  Sialylphllx did it with his team earning him 955 points!!!  Well done!! Swing by the shop some day this weekend and we'll hook it up with a little prize pack!!!  Now the big story is Jon Mackin, club leader for the past two events, has been dethroned and sent back to sixth place. Our new leader is non other than MUD DUCK!!!  I've personally had a hard start this year but after being mid pack I'm finally starting to inch my way toward the top ten.  Log into your account and see where you're at, and don't forget to start thinking about your barreling left handed team for Tavi/Teahupoo!

We'll see you in the water!!!