New Zealand surfer Billy Stairmand has beaten 10-time world champion Kelly Slater in a huge upset at an ASP Tour event in Western Australia.
Stairmand, of Raglan, held his nerve to overhaul the American legend and then hang on for a 16.50 to 15.50 win today.
It was achieved in three to four metre waves at the Margaret River break south of Perth and put Stairmand into the final 12 of the $US285,000 ($NZ365,730) event.
Slater set the early pace with a 7.50 before Stairmand equalled that soon after then scored a 9.00 with five minutes of their man-on-man heat remaining.
That left Slater needing to better a 9.00 to snatch victory. Instead, he scored a 6.93 and an 8.00 in a late flurry that came up just short.
Slater made the unusual decision to contest this secondary tour event because of the fantastic conditions and he wanted practice ahead of the looming Rip Curl Pro, a Dream Tour event at Bells Beach in Victoria.
Stairmand, 21, is no stranger to success having won a six-star event on the secondary tour in Spain late last year that signalled his potential.
Stairmand is ranked No 58 in the world and Slater is No 1 and acknowledged as the greatest competitive surfer of all time.
Richard Christie, New Zealand's other surfer in the final 24 of the Western Australian event, also went close to pulling off a major upset.
He fell 10.00 to 13.70 to Mick Fanning, Australia's double world champion.
Taranaki's Paige Hareb is through to the quarterfinals of the women's event which are likely to be contested tomorrow.
