Hawaii’s Ezekiel Lau, Pipeline specialist Jamie O’Brien, Californian Patrick Gudauskas and Italian Leonardo Fioravanti battled in the liquid gauntlet on Day 2 of the Vans World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach.

It was a tough and exciting heat, which saw the lead sway back and forth in wild surf in the 8 to 12-foot range. It wasn’t until Gudauskas got his break with a score of 8.83 by tucking into a nice tube on the takeoff then finishing it off with a nice carving turn. He won his heat with a total of 14.33 to advance.

Then it became a battle for an advancing spot for the second-place finisher. With minutes to go, Lau was in the advancing position with O’Brien coming up close behind him. O’Brien stroked into an inside wave and unleashed one huge layback turn. O’Brien finished with 11.40 to edge Lau’s total of 11.34.

It was a heartbreak for Lau who was in the top 3 of the ratings for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing and was in striking distance for next year’s World Tour.

“That was cool, I wasn’t expecting a barrel and I actually go out there not trying to get barreled because it is just too high risk,” said Gudauskas. “I just knifed it super hard (into the barrel) and kind of did the watermelon seed squirt out.”

Posting one of the highest single-wave scores of the day as well as the second-highest combined heat total of the day was Haleiwa’s Joel Centeio. Centeio, an experienced surfer who has competed at Sunset for over a decade, started out his heat on a bomb set which saw him take off in the perfect position and air drop his way down the face. He then placed two solid power turns in the pocket, good enough for an 8.83 that tied Gudauskas for the day’s highest wave score.

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to get into (it) at first and as I was taking off, I felt my fins come out,” Centeio said. “But I was like just stay planted, stay over your board, and once I stuck it, I went into that carve. I am stoked to get that ride.”

Competition will resume on the next day of quality waves which will see the top seeds such as current world No. 1 Mick Fanning, current world champion Gabriel Medina, John John Florence, Sebastien Zietz, wildcard Dane Reynolds, Joel Parkinson and last year’s Vans Triple Crown champion Julian Wilson.