Kai Sallas wins Bear Pro but Taylor Jensen takes home the 2011 ASP World Long-board Tour title
The final stop of the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Long-board Tour, Bear Pro presented by Jeep, which concluded with Hawaii’s Kai Sallas triumphing over America’s Taylor Jensen in the Final that went down at Andora, Italy, on Sunday
afternoon, November 2011.
The victory had sealed the fate of the competition in Sallas’ favour, but a runner-up finish was sufficient to carry Jensen off to his maiden ASP World Long-board Tour Championship title. The 27-year-old Californian had been simply sensation throughout the
season and carried his excellent form over to Italy, where he did not fail to give an outstanding performance despite the demanding surfing conditions on offer.
After going through nine days of waiting period, Bear Pro had managed to get underway with Round 1 on Sunday and the winners directly moved into the Quarter-Finals. Sallas and Jensen made it through the Quarter-Finals without sustaining a scratch and kept
the momentum going in the Semi-Finals to eventually make it into the final battle for the title shot.
With clean but small one-to-two foot waves on offer, both the surfers had a challenging task ahead of them to collect good scores. As the Final started, however, Sallas begun his onslaught and kept his rival under pressure since the very first minute.
As the heat progressed, Jensen failed to challenge his Hawaiian rival’s dominance and remained on the back-foot. Sallas led the heat until the end and consequently sealed the fate of the heat and thus the competition in his favour after finishing with a
heat-total of 17.17 points against Jensen’s 13.50.
The runner-up finish was not an utter disappointment for the American surfer as he still left the event site as the 2011 ASP World Long-board Champion.
Talking to a reporter about clinching his maiden ASP World Long-board Tour title, Jensen said, “I haven’t got it all in yet but I will feel pretty good tonight for sure. I was stressed out. I’ve been stressed out all week with running or not running so we
got into the event and it is a relief.”
Despite winning two events in the current season of the World Long-board Tour, Sallas had to settle for an over-all runner-up place. He was disappointed over missing out on the Championship title after coming so close, though he plans on continuing his pursuit
for the title next year.
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