Top ASP surfers facing the cut
September 1st, 2010
After days of sitting around waiting for the swell to come in, the Billabong Pro Tahiti is now through Round 2 and well into Round 3. Upsets, tight heats and the cut off were the main topics of conversation at the end of the day. Having eliminated Taj Burrow in Round 2, Manoa Drollet went and dumped World #1 Jordy Smith out of the competition in Round 3.
“He (Smith) was sitting on priority and he only needed a small wave at one point,” Drollet said. “He waited forever and he didn’t catch anything. I have a good knowledge here. I’ve been doing water patrol so I’ve been watching the event and analyzing the guys’ strategies a lot. I managed to get scores and get back in the lead there towards the end. I was expecting Jordy (Smith) to come back with a 9 at anytime.”
Despite the loss, Smith remained gracious in defeat and positive as he transitions to the next event in California.
“It was pretty tough out there,” Smith said. “Wave-starved a bit and difficult to find the right one. I got an average one in the beginning and the cut my hand on the reef. Some heats go like that. You live and learn, and I’m looking forward to the next one at Trestles.”
And in the next heat Kelly Slater pulled out a squeaker against Heiarii Williams, winning by a slim 0.09! The win moves Slater up to #2 in the ASP World Rankings.
The end of Day 9 also led to the dropping of 12 surfers from the WCT, as tour slims down to just 34 surfers … the Top 32 plus 2 wildcards. The guys dropped so far are Drew Courtney (AUS), Neco Padaratz (BRA), Tanner Gudauskas (USA), Mick Campbell (AUS), Kieren Perrow (AUS), Tom Whitaker (AUS), Kekoa Bacalso (HAW), Blake Thornton (AUS), Dean Morrison (AUS), Jay Thompson (AUS), Nate Yeomans (USA), Ben Dunn (AUS).
Tags: ASP, Billabong Pro, surfing, Teahupoo
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