“I don’t think we should have an event there. I love the wave, great place, nothing personal, it’s just too frustrating of an event” – Kelly Slater

Following his almost-victory in France and with all eyes turning to the upcoming Billabong Pro Mundaka, Kelly let his thoughts be known on holding another ASP event at the fickle Spanish wave. In large part, Kelly was just voicing the thoughts of many when voicing his discontent with the Mundaka competition. The last two years have been anything but spectacular in Spain. This led to rumblings earlier in the year that perhaps the Billabong Pro Mundaka would become the Billabong Pro Somewhere Else. These never really materialized, and Surfline’s Marcus Sanders recently released a great interview with ASP CEO Brodie Carr and ASP Tour Manager Renato Hickel as to the thought process that is currently taking place as far as Mundaka is concerned.

One of the changes that will go to make a difference, as well as one I think should be adopted permanently is the elimination of surfers who place 3rd in the 1st round of heats. This eliminates a full-day’s worth of competition featuring guys with no real shot of winning it, while at the same time allowing the top guys more of a chance to surf during the swell’s peaks. This is ideal for Mundaka, and probably ideal for the other stops on the Dream Tour.

Although most of the tour is in favor of dropping Mundaka from the schedule, you probably won’t hear much of that from Bobby Martinez. Martinez, current world no. 7, has won at Mundaka the past two years. Even so, he is well aware of it’s stinginess at times. “It’s so tough because I just got lucky with waves and my luck is bound to run out sometime so it could be this year,” Martinez said. “Mundaka has been a cool place to me the last couple of years and it will always be cool no matter what happens but I’ve never done good in France and then I’ve done good in Spain so I’m just hoping it’s not the other way around this year since I just did alright in France.”

Stay tuned to 5’s for more updates on the 2008 Billabong Pro Mundaka, waiting period opens tomorrow-

Top 10 ASP World Tour Ratings going into the Billabong Pro Mundaka:
1. Kelly Slater (USA) – 7852 points
2. Taj Burrow (AUS) – 6002 points
3. Bede Durbidge (AUS) – 5668 points
4. Adriano De Souza (BRA) – 5426 points
5. Joel Parkinson (AUS) – 5373 points
6. Mick Fanning (AUS) – 5310 points
7. Bobby Martinez (USA) – 5092 points
8. CJ Hobgood (USA) – 4880 points
9. Adrian Buchan (AUS) – 4719 points
10. Jeremy Flores (FRA) – 4407 points

Tags: ASP World Tour, Bobby Martinez, Kelly Slater, WCT

Posted by Shaun on Monday, September 29th, 2008 in Surfing.

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