Kelly Slater continues his good form in Round 4 of Hurley Pro – 2011 ASP World Tour
The seventh stop on the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Hurley Pro, continued to deliver intense surfing action with the second heat of Round 4 on Tuesday, September 20, at the iconic beach at Lower Trestles in California.
The heat turned out to be a one-man show as Kelly Slater completely stole the show with his unmatchable performance to clinch the win and secure a place in the quarter-finals. Australia’s Josh Kerr and Heitor Alves rounded out the second and third positions
respectively, consequently getting relegated to Round 5.
Despite a no-show and 13th place finish in this season, the 10-time ASP World Champion, Slater, is leading the race for the 2011 ASP World Title. After getting off to an ideal start this season in Australia, the 39-year-old struggled to build
momentum and began to gradually move down the ASP World Title Rankings. However, he made a strong comeback during Billabong Pro Tahiti over a month back and had been going strong ever since. His performance at Hurley Pro had been nothing short of exceptional
so far, which allowed him to comfortably breeze through the initial rounds of the event to reach Round 4.
Pitted against an in-form Kerr and Alves during Round 4 for the coveted quarter-final spot, the iconic surfer continued the momentum with yet another exquisite performance to completely dominate his rivals during the 30-minute heat.
As the heat kicked off, Slater locked a wave during the opening minutes to pull out an impressive trick from his arsenal, earning 7.00 points for the stunt. Looking to maintain the pressure on his rivals, he soon locked another wave to unload a series of
exquisite manoeuvres, collecting 8.90 points for the effort and moving to a heat-total of 15.90 points. The score kept him in the lead throughout the entirety of the heat and eventually sealed the fate of the contest in his favour.
Kerr may have been extremely impressive over the last three days of the competition, but he failed to come up with an adequate response to Slater’s performance during their Round 4 bout. The Australian got off to a great start, locking a wave to score 7.93
points it, but was unable to add another decent score to his account. His second business-wave earned him a mere 4.67, which led him to finish with a heat-total of 12.60 points.
Alves landed the third position after scoring 6.70 points off his first wave and 5.07 points of his second to finishing with a heat-total of 11.77 points. The performance may have been a disappointing one, but surely did not come as a surprise after taking
the inconsistency shown by the Brazilian in the early stages of the event into account.
For more updates on Round 4 of Hurley Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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