Mick Fanning and Kelly Slater safely reach the quarter-finals at 2012 Hurley Pro
The fifth round of 2012 Hurley Pro, sixth of ten stops on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Title, kicked-off at Lower Trestles in California, America, on Thursday, September 20, with both Australia’s Mick Fanning and America’s
Kelly Slater walking away with top honours from their respective heats.
Fanning got the better of his fellow countryperson Julian Wilson in the opening heat of the round to secure his place in the quarter-final while removing the latter from the contention for the event title.
The second heat saw France’s Jeremy Flores failing to down Slater, though just barely, consequently getting eliminated from the competition while sending the latter into the next stage of the competition.
The clean three-to-five foot waves on offer at the iconic beach-break of Lower Trestles set up an exciting stage for the elite ASP surfers to cut loose while competing for a place in the quarter-finals.
The first heat saw Fanning and Wilson taking each other on in a one-on-one battle for survival. Both the surfers had seemed a bit rusty during their previous heat and therefore found themselves standing on the edge with hardly any room for error.
As the bout got underway, Wilson got off to an energetic start, earning a 6.33 off his first business-wave and soon backed it up with a 6.43-point ride to move to a heat-total of 12.76 points.
Fanning, former two-time ASP World Champion and current No.1 on the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour rankings, did not get off to the best of starts, but a determined search eventually allowed him to get his hands on a 6.07 and 6.83-point ride, thus finishing
with a heat-total of 12.90 points. The score was just enough to take him ahead of his rival and consequently secure the quarter-final spot.
The second heat saw the legendary Slater, reigning 11-time ASP World Champion, take on Flores in a pressure battle.
The 40-year-old Florida-based surfer went down to work right away and managed to score an impressive 8.17 off his first business-wave. With a 7.77-point ride late in the heat, the American surfer reached a heat-total of 15.94 points.
Flores responded with a couple of scores in the seven-point range, thus finishing with a two-wave total of 15.44 points. As a result, he was forced to concede the quarter-final spot to his rival.
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