While watching today’s heats in the 2009 Hurley Pro we got a better understanding of where some of the “Slater Tour” proponents are coming from. While deep down we’re supporters of the ASP and hate the way action sports seem to continually attempt re-inventing their wheels, we have to agree that there are too many heats in ASP WCT events.
Out of the 20 heats run today in moderate, yet somewhat inconsistent surf we cared about five, maybe six. We were stoked C.J Hobgood beat Marlon Lipke, bummed that Bobby Martinez lost to Luke Stedman, proud of Taylor Knox, surprised when Josh Kerr knocked out Ace Buchan, happy when Kai Otton defeated Jay Thompson, and thought Freddy P may have been underscored, but since it was against Roy Powers we were okay with it. When Roy said he was glad to be on the winning side of a close heat after being on the losing end so many times, he was gracious. And that was cool.
The heat that the ASP press release writer was most excited about, however, was when Josh Kerr scored a 17.5 against Dayyan Neve. To us, watching a guy in 25th place on the ASP rankings get all over the number 30 guy just doesn’t seem all that compelling.
Josh Kerr (AUS), 25, current ASP World No. 25, stunned spectators today with his diverse repertoire of progressive surfing, blending rotation aerials with power hacks to net the highest heat total of the day, a 17.17 out of a possible 20, to defeat an in-form Dayyan Neve (AUS), 31, in Round 2 of competition. . . . “I’d been here the last couple of hours and in the heat before I saw that there were a few nice rights shaping up,” Kerr said. “There seemed to be a few in our heat. Dayyan (Neve) got a couple as well. That one wave wasn’t the biggest wave, but it looked like it was going to connect down the line and that’s exactly what it did. I raced down the line and popped a little air, came around, up and down, and it stayed wally for me and I gave it a little bang off of the end.”
While no tour is going to make 100 percent the fans happy all the time, fewer throw away heats might not be that bad an idea.
Follow the jump for the official ASP press release, all the heat results, and the line up for tomorrow which includes banging heats from the get go starting with Dane Reynolds vs. Ben Dunn, Joel Parkinson vs. Rob Machado, and Kelly Slater vs. Brett Simpson.
[Link: 2009 Hurley Pro]
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After a reportedly top-secret meeting on Sunday (September 13, 2009) in which at least 20 surfers discussed the “Slater Tour” with potential organizers, ESPN/Action’s Micah Abrams caught up with Bede Durbidge and got his thoughts on the proposed “champions tour.” Durbidge seemed optimistic:
