Sitting atop the ASP leaderboard, Kelly is the one to beat. How will he fare in the upcoming rounds at Keramas? Photo: ASP/Kirstin
The “King of Surfing” fell short during Round 1 at the 2013 Oakley Pro Bali at Keramas, but his return in Round 2 and powerful footage surfing Bali’s spots last year forecasts a good result for the remainder of the ASP event.
The Oakley Pro Bali, June 18-29, is event number 5 of 10 on the World Championship Tour. So far, Slater has won two of the five events: the Quiksilver Pro and Volcom Fiji Pro–in which he scored a perfect heat. After his win in Fiji, he regained his first place rank on the ASP WCT with Aussie Mick Fanning trailing close behind in second rank. However, Slater was defeated by Damien Hobgood on Day 1.
Day 2 resulted in a better performance for Slater, as his forehand tube-riding and power turns earned him a score of 18.17 to eliminate Aussie wildcard Jack Robinson. In a BoxScoreNews article, Slater said, “There are some really good waves out there when they come. Still though, I’m two for two on slow heats. The waves are fun when they come through, but there just weren’t a lot in mine. I was happy to get a couple of good waves at the start and that really put the pressure on Jack (Robinson).”
Day 3 will feature Kelly Slater versus Indonesian Putra Hermawan in Heat 6. Hermawan was defeated in the Oakley Pro Trials by challenging competitor Oney Anwar, but his experience surfing Keramas and earning a previous Indonesian Surfing Championship title helped him out in Round 2. In a close heat, Hermawan beat out Brett Simpson, but how will he stand against Slater?
In predicting how the rest of the event will go for Slater, we can look to Chris Bryan’s 3-day capture of Slater surfing Bali last year:
To watch a live broadcast of the 2013 Oakley Pro Bali, visit www.oakleyprobali.com.
