Kelly Slater and Michel Bourez make the Round 4 cut at O’Neill Coldwater Classic
America’s Kelly Slater and French Polynesia’s Michel Bourez emerged triumphant in their respective Round 3 heats at the O’Neill Coldwater Classic, the ninth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, which
continued at Santa Cruz in California, America, on Sunday, November 4.
Slater got the better of Hawaii’s Dusty Payne in the seventh heat to make his way through into the fourth round, bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival in the process.
The eighth heat saw Australia’s Kai Otton succumb to Bourez, getting eliminated from the competition as a result while allowing his rival to advance through into the fourth round.
Elite ASP surfers had their work cut out for them during the course of Round 3 as the main point-break of Steamer Lane put challenging waves on offer, demanding a lot from them before awarding them desirable results for their efforts.
Slater, reigning 11-time ASP World Champion and current No.2, was up against Payne in a man-on-man battle for survival after narrowly avoiding elimination in his Round 2 heat earlier in the day.
As the heat got underway, the 40-year-old Floridian got down to business without wasting any time, locking his first business-wave to post a 7.17 on the score-board.
Keeping the momentum going, Slater stepped up even further to add an additional 8.67 points to his account, thus getting to a heat-total of 15.84 points.
Payne had no intention of going down without a fight. The 23-year-old Hawaiian found himself a couple juicy waves and utilised them to post a 6.50 and 8.27 on the score-board, but the resultant heat-total of 14.77 points just was not enough to see him through
into the next round, thus forcing him to concede defeat to Slater.
The eighth heat of Round 3 turned out to be completely one-sided as Otton offered no challenge to Bourez during the course of the battle.
The French Polynesian surfer looked in good touch, earning a 5.50 and 6.90 off his business-wave to get to a heat-total of 12.40 points, which was a pretty decent score taking the demanding conditions into account.
Otton, however, completely succumbed to the conditions and only managed to get to a heat-total of 5.27 points, which included a 3.00 and 2.27-point ride, consequently getting eliminated from the competition.
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