Big News At The 2008 Billabong Pro Tahiti - Teahupoo
May 15th, 2008 by Adam
The biggest upset of Round 3 goes to Manoa Drollet, the local Tahitian, knocked out the 8 time world champ, Kelly Slater, and moved onto Round 4. Kelly Slater could only manage a combined 9.83 wave score in Round 3, compared to Drollet who scored a 14.00 heat total. Another top standout and last year’s ASP World Number 2 surfer, Taj Burrow, was beaten by Brazilian surfer Bruno Santos.
Kelly Slater was slapped with a priority interference penalty while paddling for a wave Manoa had priority on and Slater’s second wave was disqualified. Even though Slater finished this contest in 17th place, he will maintain his ASP Tour Number 1 ranking.
With 2 of the top surfers vacant from the Teahupoo lineup and only one day left in the competition, the field will be battling for the Teahupoo victory. Slater’s biggest threats are still in the contest. The two biggest worries include Andy Irons (HAW) and Joel Parkinson (AUS). Both of these pros are ranked 6th on the ASP Tour and if either of them win the Teahupoo competition, they would move all the way up to Number 2. Putting them right behind the Number 1 and adding more pressure on Slater and his 9th World Title contention.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 9:40 am and is filed under Surfing News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.