Maui's Dusty Payne can see the light at the end of the barrel, but he realizes it is still a long ride away.

Payne continued his stunning run through the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing with an impressive performance on the opening day of the Billabong Pipeline Masters yesterday.

The first round and half of the second round were run in barreling 5- to 7-foot waves (with wave-face heights around 10 to 15 feet) at the Banzai Pipeline.

Payne, 19, won his first- and second-round heats to remain in the overall lead of the Triple Crown standings. The Pipeline Masters is the third of three contests in the Triple Crown series.

"I'm trying not to think about that," said Payne, who is from Lahaina. "I just want to keep making heats and hopefully get close to the Triple Crown."

Payne was one of the top barrel-riders yesterday, receiving a two-wave score of 17.6 (out of 20) in his first-round win, and a 17.16 in the second round.

"Conditions are great," he said. "And there's usually 400 guys out here, so to surf with just four guys out is incredible."

At the start of the Triple Crown, Payne was one of the lowest-seeded surfers in the entire series. But he placed fourth at the first contest at Hale'iwa, then tied for fifth at the second contest at Sunset Beach.

"I'm not going for (World Championship Tour) points or anything like that," he said. "My career is not on the line like some of these other guys. So I'm just going out and having fun."

Payne's performance was just one of the highlights of the opening day. Specialists, spoilers and substitutes were also on display.

The Pipeline Masters is a World Championship Tour event, but is unique in that it allows extra entries for the "Pipeline Specialists" — the surfers who ride the famous wave regularly.

The specialists advancing yesterday were Kamalei Alexander, Jesse Merle-Jones, Mark Healey, Makuakai Rothman and Marcus Hickman.

The Pipeline Masters is also the final event of the 2008 world tour, so several surfers need strong showings to requalify for the 2009 tour.

The Hawai'i contingent spoiled some of those plans — sometimes against each other.

For example, Jamie O'Brien of O'ahu's North Shore defeated Kaua'i's Roy Powers in the second round. O'Brien is not a world tour surfer; Powers will likely not qualify for the 2009 tour because of his loss to O'Brien.

"I knew Roy was in a tough position, but I'm not going to give him the win because of it," O'Brien said. "He had every chance to get the waves out there just like I did. He surfed good. I just got lucky at the end."

O'Brien won the 2004 Pipeline Masters, and was invited to this year's event as a replacement for an injured surfer.

There were also several last-minute substitutes placed into the contest yesterday.

North Shore surfers John John Florence and Ezra Sitt, and Kaua'i's Evan Valiere were all called in as replacements yesterday morning.

Florence, 16, is the youngest surfer in the field. He had the best heat of the first round, receiving a two-wave score of 17.9.

Florence is considered a Pipeline prodigy, and started surfing the dangerous waves when he was 8.

Valiere was a substitute and spoiler all in one. In his second-round heat, he eliminated Australia's Mick Campbell from the 2009 tour. Valiere won the heat with a near-perfect barrel ride of 9.07 in the closing seconds.

"I got a little nervous inside (the barrel) because I didn't know if I was going to make it out," he said.

California's Chris Ward had the best heat of the day, receiving scores of 9.97 and 9.93 for his two best waves for a total of 19.9. He eliminated Pipeline specialist Tory Barron in the second round.

"I was just happy to get through that round," Ward said. "I hope I don't see any more specialists the rest of the way because those guys are the ultimate surfers out here."

The top seeds — including Kelly Slater of Florida and Andy Irons of Kaua'i — have byes until the third round.

The contest could continue today, if conditions are favorable. For updates visit www.triplecrownofsurfing.com.