Having reached the final of the 6th stop on the 2013 ASP World Tour, Kelly Slater is back at the frontrunner position on the ASP ratings. The 11 time world champion has now 1050 points more than his only opponent for the 2013 crown, Mick Fanning (Aus), while there are still 4 events to go this season. In the Final, Kelly Slater was defeated by Adrian Buchan (Aus) by 18.94 pts vs 17.90. Earlier, in the semis, Ace Buchan had pulled out Fanning out of the contest and helped Slater to jump on the ranking first position.

Slater was a man possessed on the final day of competition, surviving horrific wipeouts throughout his five heats of competition to find himself in this evening’s Final against Buchan. Despite an incredible backhand barrel and a last-minute effort on a righthander, the Australian’s early scores would prove too much for Slater to overcome.

“Took a few poundings out there today for sure,” Slater said. “Felt like I dislocated my shoulder at one point but it feels okay now. The waves were really fun today and Ace (Adrian Buchan) just happened to get those two gems at the start of the heat. Those two were the ones and I would have preferred a win, but Ace has been in really good form all day and he’s a deserving winner.”
Slater’s Final berth this evening pushes the Floridian into the frontrunner spot on the 2013 ASP WCT rankings heading into the back four events of the season.

“Trestles, Europe and Pipe is a pretty strong leg for me historically,” Slater said. “It’s pretty close at the top right now so it will be an interesting finish to the season.”

As for Jeremy Florès, awarded the Andy Irons award for surfing the heaviest wave of the event, the Tahitian leg ends on a nice 9th place finish keeping the Reunion Island surfer in the ASP Top 15.

After the next tour stop in California coming up, the world’s elite of surfing will be in France from September 26th for the Quiksilver Pro France.