Kelly Slater dominates Round 1 heat at Rip Curl Pro Portugal – 2011 ASP World Tour
The exciting surfing action continued at the renowned beach-break of Supertubos in Peniche, Portugal, with the sixth heat of Rip Curl Pro Portugal’s Round 1 pitting America’s Kelly Slater against Brazil’s Bruno Santos and South Africa’s Travis Logie in a
battle for a direct Round 3 spot on Sunday, October 16.
The three-man battle turned out to be a one-man show, with Slater completely stealing the show with his notable performance and eventually walking away with top honours to secure the Round 3 spot. Santos and Logie rounded out the second and third place respectively,
consequently getting relegated to Round 2.
The clean three-to-five foot waves gracing the banks of Supertubos looked extremely promising and carried enough juice to allow the surfers to go for the more advanced manoeuvres in their arsenal. With decent conditions at hand, the sixth heat of Round 1
was expected to be a thrilling affair despite a pretty obvious result.
The 39-year-old Slater has been dominating the battlefield for nearly two decades and has already amassed 10 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Titles. Despite the record number of titles to his name already, he is still going strong in his
pursuit of an 11th ASP World Title.
Looking to cement his place on top in the ASP World Title Rankings, the legendary Florida-based surfer came to Portugal with one sole intention: domination. As expected, Slater wasted no time in getting down to business and showed absolutely no mercy to
his competitors during his Round 1 heat on Sunday.
As the sixth heat of Round 1 got underway, Slater went through a series of mediocre scores before locking a barrel to unload a combination of spectacular stunts, earning 9.00 points for the effort and pretty much taking control of the heat. He soon added
another 4.10 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of 13.10. The score remained unbeatable until the end and consequently sealed the fate of the contest in his favour.
Event wild-card entry, Santos, was unable to make much of an impact during the 30-minute showdown and only got to a heat-total of 7.53 points, which included a 1.53 and 6.00-point wave. As a result, he was forced to settle for runner-up place, which sent
him into Round 2.
Logie finished in third place after coming up with a performance that was nothing short of disappointing. He collected a mere 1.93 off his first and 2.77 off his second business-wave, eventually closing the heat with a two-wave total of 4.70 points. Despite
the lacklustre Round 1 performance, he still had an opportunity of extending his life in the competition by grabbing success in his Round 2 heat.
For more updates on Round 1 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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