Brett Simpson and Kelly Slater shine during Round 3 heats at the Reef Hawaiian Pro
America’s Brett Simpson and compatriot Kelly Slater were successfully able to make their way through into the fourth (Round of 32) at the Reef Hawaiian Pro, first of three stops on the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, after claiming victory in their respective Round 3 (Round of 64) heats that went down at Haleiwa in Oahu, Hawaii, on Saturday, November 17, 2012.
Australia’s Matt Wilkinson finished behind Simpson in second place during the seventh heat to accompany the latter into the next round, while Guadeloupe’s Charles Martin and France’s Marc Lacomare rounded out the bottom-two positions, which resulted in their elimination from the competition.
The eighth heat saw the legendary Slater claim top honours, while Hawaii’s Sunny Garcia finished below him in second place. Both the surfers consequently advanced to the next round. Hawaii’s Alex Smith and Brazil’s Jesse Mendes finished in third and fourth place respectively, which resulted in their removal from the contention for the event title.
The latest day on the on-going Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event continued to find demanding conditions prevailing at the North Shore of Oahu, thus making the surfers put in a greater amount of effort to get their hands on a couple of decent scores.
Pitted against Wilkinson, Martin and Lacomare in the seventh heat, Simpson knew he needed to come up with a special performance if he wanted to stay in the race for the $250,000 prize money and coveted ASP World ranking points.
As the battle got underway, the American surfer got off to a modest start, but eventually managed to get his hands on a 5.50-point ride, thus breaking free of the shackles. Backing it up with another 5.50-point wave, Simpson finished with a heat-total of 11.00 points, which served to earn him the win.
Wilkinson successfully extended his life in the event after scoring a 6.73 and 1.17 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 7.90 points, a score that was enough to put him in second place.
Martin and Lacomare finished with a heat-total of 7.50 and 7.04 points respectively, which just was not good enough to keep them alive in the event.
The next heat saw the reigning 11-time ASP World Champion and current No.2 on the ASP World Title Championship Slater walk away with a convincing win after posting an 8.17 and 6.43 on the score-board to claim a winning heat-total of 14.60 points.
Garcia accompanied him into the next round after finishing in runner-up place with a heat-total of 10.80 points, which included a couple of scores in the five-point range.
A heat-total of 9.73 by Smith placed him third, while Mendes had to settle for the bottom position after registering a heat-total of 8.93 points.
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