We’re a little more than halfway along the 2008 ASP WCT, and Kelly Slater is still the only member of the top 45 to win an event. The 36-year-old dusted 2007 Champ Mick Fanning in the finals at the Billabong Pro in Jeffreys Bay today to take an all-but-insurmountable lead in his pursuit of a record ninth world title. 


Fun Bulletpoints: -The last man to take four of the first five was… Kelly Slater.  In 1999 he won twice in Japan and twice in Australia.  Matt Hoy was the other winner in that five event stretch, taking the win at Bell’s.


-Vaguely Weird Australian Quote That Probably Means Something Other Than What I am Thinking It Does of the Event:

“I surfed like an idiot, I had the opportunity to win the whole thing and I fell and I don’t know why. I don’t know what happened, I just had a shocker.” –Runner-up Mick Fanning


-The next event is the Rip Curl Search, located “somewhere.”  Slater’s lead is so large that he could decide to skip the event to go traveling around Europe and smoking hashish with some weird gypsy revival circus carnival, he could come back and still be leading the standings… even if second-place Joel Parkinson wins. 


This Billabong Pro was the second such named event on the year, behind the Billabong pro Tahiti and ahead of the Billabong Pro Mundaka, not to mention the Billabong Pipeline Masters. 


Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Final Results:
Final: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.73 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 9.40

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Semifinal Results:
Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.00 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.17
Heat 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.84 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.83

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Quarterfinal Results:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.74 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.00
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.17 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 9.84
Heat 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.27 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 9.60
Heat 4: Taj Burrow (AUS) def. Andy Irons (HAW)

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Round 4 Results:
Heat 5: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.44 def. Bruce Irons (HAW) 13.33
Heat 6: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 14.76 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 10.33
Heat 7: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.00 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.76
Heat 8: Andy Irons (HAW) 11.34 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 5.23

ASP World Tour Ratings after Stop No. 5 – the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay
1.    Kelly Slater (USA)    5210 points
2.    Joel Parkinson (AUS) 3948 points
3.    Bede Durbidge (AUS) 3782 points   
4.    Mick Fanning (AUS)    3753 points
5.    Taj Burrow (AUS)    3638 points
6.    Adriano de Souza (BRA)    3540 points
7.    C.J. Hobgood (USA) 3460 points
8.    Andy Irons (HAW) 3338 points
9.    Bobby Martinez (USA)    3028 points
10.    Adrian Buchan (AUS)    2884 points