Josh Kerr and Kelly Slater advance to Round 4 of Quiksilver Pro New York – 2011 ASP World Tour
The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour continued to feature intense contests and a little bit of drama with the fifth and sixth heat of Quiksilver Pro New York’s Round 3 that went down, or was scheduled to go down, at Long Beach, New York,
on Thursday, September 8.
The fifth heat saw Australia’s Josh Kerr clinch a comfortable win over Brazil’s Raoni Monteiro to secure his place in the fourth round, while eliminating his opponent from the competition.
America’s Kelly Slater advanced to Round 4 after the disqualification of his compatriot and opponent, Bobby Martinez, led to a no-contest sixth heat.
With six-foot waves gracing the primary event on Thursday morning, the head-to-head battle between the 27-year-old Kerr and Monteiro kicked off. Both the surfers had kicked off the latest stop of the 2011 ASP World Tour in good form and passed through the
first round unscratched. However, the current face-off was going to bring the event to a premature end for one of them.
As the heat begun, the Brazilian force, Monteiro, got himself a relatively good start by locking a wave to earn 6.50 points off it. He soon added an additional 4.33 points to his account, taking his heat-total to 10.83 points.
Kerr slowly built up momentum before eventually locking a wave to utilise it for 5.83 points. He later locked another wave to pull off a series of impressive tricks, earning 7.50 points for the effort and taking his heat-total to 13.33 points. This consequently
allowed him to walk away with the win, extending his life in the event.
The sixth heat was scheduled to be a head-to-head battle between the 10-time ASP World Champion, Slater, and Martinez, who had earned his place in the third round by defeating Australia’s Bede Durbidge in the second round.
During the press conference after his Round 2 victory, Martinez had used the media attention to lash out at ASP for the new ranking system that was being introduced. The usage of extremely profane language and harsh words for ASP led to his disqualification
from the competition.
With his opponent disqualified, the 39-year-old Slater had nobody to face in his Round 3 heat, which eventually led to a walkover. Durbidge had requested the officials to give him the Round 3 spot after the disqualification of Martinez, but the request was
declined.
For more updates on Round 3 of Quiksilver Pro New York, stay tuned to bettor.com
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