Rookie Bobby Martinez (USA) has turned the surfing world on its head today by beating a host of established pro tourers to claim his first-ever major ASP event, winning the 2006 Billabong Pro Tahiti.
Unlike the women's event, the men's finals were dominated by the northern hemisphere. Hira Teriinatoofa was the only local star to make it through to the quarter-finals and the semi-finals saw Fred Patacchia (HAW) 10.24 defeat Kelly Slater 5.10 (USA) and Bobby Martinez (USA) 17.97 defeat Californian tour veteran Taylor Knox (USA) 16.73.
Kelly Slater had previously taken out rival Andy Irons (HAW) but in the semi-final he suffered a massive wipeout that resulted in a painful rib injury. With the emphasis shifting from the tube to big turns when the tide slightly affected the wave shape, Patacchia and Slater both pushed themselves to the limits.
Patacchia was particularly scintillating on one wave where he executed some sizzling top turns and cut backs. In characteristic response, Slater took off on five footer and drove hard off the bottom in order to execute a big backside floater, unfortunately, coming into the turn too late and with a thick, heavy wave lip, he landed awkwardly, smashing onto his board and breaking a couple of ribs. Slater's competitive spirit drove him on, immediately taking off on another wave late, threw his board away and came up to see it floating in two pieces.
Friends, Martinez and Patacchia were on fire in the final, mixing tube riding with breath-taking top turns and incredible lip bashes, all just above the razor sharp reef. The two went blow for blow and despite Patacchia landing a huge aerial manoeuvre right at the end Martinez had done enough to claim first place.
Only 0.2 of a point on their second scoring wave, separating the two combatants!
The win has catapulted Martinez into second place on the ratings and places him well within striking distance for a full on assault at the 2006 crown.Incumbentt Kelly Slater said, "I probably won't go to Fiji if I feel this way a week or five days from now. That would give me a break until Mexico comes at the end of June so I'll just see how we go. Fiji can get pretty big waves, you get some serious thrashings at Cloudbreak, so I wouldn't want to be feeling like this and do more internal damage."
Tavarua/Namotu-Fiji Globe is May 21-June 2, 2006.
