Surfing

Slater Makes History

E365> Surfing - Sunday September 16 2007

E365 -- Well, he did it. A few days ago we told you about how Kelly Slater had given himself an opportunity to take the Boost Mobile Pro and move into second spot in the World Rankings, giving himself a shot at taking his ninth World Title. He didn't disappoint.

As if that wasn't enough Slater also made history, breaking the world record for most elite tour event victories after beating Hawaiian Pancho Sullivan in the final. This gives him 34 tour victories, one more than previous record holder Tom Curren who set the record back in 1991.

“It’ll be nice to go and sit down and think about this one,” Slater said according to aspworldtour.com. “This will be a neat little tournament for my career. I’m a little bummed because I didn’t feel like I capitalized on the waves I had, and it was frustrating, but just to get that win was important. We had similar conditions to 1990 when I won out here, so it was pretty magical.”

“Part of me is kind of sad,” Slater said. “I was hoping Tom and I would end up on the same number forever, but somebody is bound to come along and get to where I got. You’ve got to surf to the standards, but someone else is always going to be coming along that has the time and desire.”

So his win today puts him 230 points behind Foster’s ASP ratings leader Mick Fanning and has positioned him as a strong contender for the 2007 World Title.

The next stop on the Foster’s ASP World Tour will be the Quiksilver Pro France running from September 20-30, 2007. With the momentum on his side it's gonna take all Mick Fanning's got to stop Slater from claiming his ninth world title.

FINAL:

1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 13.40 2 – Pancho Sullivan (HAW) 10.60

SEMIFINALS:

SF 1: Pancho Sullivan (HAW) 15.24 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 5.33
SF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.83 def. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 10.33

QUARTERFINALS:

QF 1: Pancho Sullivan (HAW) 11.17 def. Troy Brooks (AUS) 8.00
QF 2: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 14.17 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 13.67
QF 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.60 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 16.67
QF 4: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 15.83 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 14.93