Gabe Kling wins an intense Round 3 clash at the ASP PRIME Nike Lowers Pro
America’s Gabe Kling prevailed in the 10th heat of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME Nike Lowers Pro’s Round 3 (Round of 96) that went down at the renowned beach-break of Lower Trestles at San Clemente, California, on Tuesday,
May 1.
With a success result in the Round 3 heat, the American surfer advanced through into the next round (Round of 48) of the competition. Brazil’s Raoni Monteiro also made the Round 4 cut after claiming second-place position.
The flawless waves of Lower Trestles always promise a heavy dose of thrilling action. The presence of talented local and international surfers, including the ASP World Tour contenders, were competing for the prestigious event title, along with a huge slice
of the prize purse and coveted ASP ranking points that were on offer. The crowd expected nothing short of intense battles over the course of the event, especially with clean two-to-four foot waves that were breaking at Lower Trestles.
The 10th heat of Round 3 saw Kling squaring off with Monteiro, Hawaii’s Tonino Benson and Basque Country’s Hodei Collazo in a four-man battle for survival.
Aided by his local knowledge of the waves and the support of the crowd, Kling got off to a solid start, locking his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat to post a 6.93 on the score-board. He was made to work hard for his good score, but
eventually found it in the late stages of the heat. Locking a relatively juicy wave, he unloaded a series of impressive manoeuvres to earn a 7.10 for the effort, thus moving to a heat-total of 14.03 points.
Monteiro did not allow Kling to relax for even a minute during the course of the battle. He took the lead for a while with a 7.83 off his first business-wave halfway through the stage, but failed to maintain it after backing it up with a 5.80-point wave.
Finishing with a resultant heat-total of 13.63 points, he was forced to settle for runner-up place, which could hardly be considered a disappointing result as he still got to advance through into the next round.
Benson finished in third place with a heat-total of 12.67 points, which included a 6.77 and 5.90-point wave. Scoring a 4.77 and 4.83 off his best-two waves, Collazo finished in fourth place. Both Benson and Collazo got eliminated from the competition.
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