“I don’t think I’ve ever won three out of the first four events on tour,” Slater said. “I’ve won the first two a couple times but I think this is the first time I’ve ever done this. Being the only guy on tour to win an event is pretty odd – I don’t think there has ever been that situation on tour. I know [Tom] Curren and Potts [Martin Potter] both won the first three, but I don’t think a wildcard filled in that fourth one.” Slater has now extended his ASP ratings lead with Joel Parkinson (AUS) and Bede Durbidge (AUS) maintaining their World No. 2 and 3 spots behind him. “This feels good – three wins this year, as Damien said to me, I’m sitting on dubs,” Slater said. “That’s as many points as you can get out of three contests, that fourth one, Tahiti, is obviously just a throw away and, lucky for me in that situation, Joel was only the only guy to actually do anything there. C.J. got a result there too – up to that point he hadn’t really done anything, so he’s sitting on a second and a third, he’s looking pretty good now.” The final match-up was a repeat of the 2005 edition of the event. Much to C.J. Hobgood’s chagrin, their leaderboard in Fiji finals now reads 2:0 in Slater’s favour. “The waves in that last final we had was quite a bit bigger and more intense at Restaurants,” Slater said. “There were much bigger scores which was to be expected. Today if you had two eights you could probably make it through. Cloudbreak is a much bigger arena and there were some good waves in the final that I don’t think we caught – there were some nines out there, probably a 10.00 or two – but we weren’t quite in the spot for them.” Hobgood, the 2001 ASP World Champion, jumps from 12th to 6th on the ratings with the result, but the second-place finish was bittersweet for him after finishing third in Tahiti. Both he and his twin brother Damien are known for posting big results during the South Pacific leg. Slater eliminated them both in the Globe Pro Fiji. (Source: ASP)