Jeremy Flores and Kelly Slater emerge triumphant in Round 3 of Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach
France’s Jeremy Flores and America’s Kelly Slater made it through their respective Round 3 heats of Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, the latest stop of the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Title Series, which continued at Bells Beach in Victoria,
Australia, on April 5.
Flores got the better of Australia’s Bede Durbidge in the fifth heat to confirm his place in the fourth round while bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival.
The sixth heat saw Slater down Australia’s Nic Muscroft to advance through into Round 4 while removing the latter from the contention for the event title.
With clean four-to-six foot waves breaking at the primary event site on Thursday, there was plenty of opportunity for the surfers to show off their skills and style as they took each other on in a battle for the Round 4 spot.
The fifth heat saw Flores and Durbidge go head-to-head in front of a large crowd, majority of which were supporting the latter.
As the battle got underway, the Australian surfer got off to a decent start, locking his first business-wave early in the heat to post a 5.83 on the score-board. He soon found a 7.00-point ride to add an additional 7.00 points to his account to take his
heat-total to 12.83 points.
Flores responded strongly with a 6.50 off his first business-wave and continued his momentum as the man-on-man battle continued to add another 7.60 points to his account. The resultant heat-total of 14.10 points remained unbeatable until the end to seal
the fate of the battle in his favour.
The sixth heat saw the 11-time ASP World Champion Slater battle it out with Muscroft for survival.
The Floridian surfer was the favourite to win the battle and he did not fail to live up to the expectations. Slater scored a 7.77 off his first business-wave before locking his second business-wave in the dying minutes of the heat for an outstanding 9.23.
The last-minute effort took him to a heat-total of 17.00 points.
Muscroft had no intention of getting intimidated by his rival and opened up his account with a near-perfect 9.50-point wave. However, he failed to back it up with another big score, managing to add another 6.80 points to his account only for a heat-total
of 16.30 points. While the performance was nothing short of spectacular, it proved insufficient to down the world’s best surfer.
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