When the ASP awarded their third and final 2010 World Tour wildcard to Brazilian veteran Neco Padaratz at the end of last season, East Coasters howled in anger over the exclusion of their boy Gabe Kling.

The St. Augustine, FL, native had already done the unthinkable — qualifying the old-fashioned way for the now-defunct WCT not once but twice — before severely injuring his ankle and knee at the O’Neill Cold Water Classic Tasmania in March 2009. That forced Gabe to watch his sophomore Dream Tour run fly by, before he finally had surgery last October, returned in December to win his first heat back in a jersey at the Billabong Pipe Masters, and applied for the ASP’s injury wildcard confident that his long, hard road to recovery would hopefully pay off.

It didn’t, however, as the ASP inexplicably gave the aging Padaratz — an admitted past steroid user and frequent butt of Brazzo jokes — one last chance at redemption. The choice smacked of international quota-filling, as Neco seemed to run contrary to the ASP’s efforts to ignite a youth revolution on the World Tour via an emphasis on aerial surfing, revamped judging criteria, and an updated One Rankings format intended to usher in fresh talent at several intervals throughout the year.

All of that progressive-minded hoopla was on display May 4th-9th at the 6-Star PRIME Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro, held at Lower Trestles, CA, in ultra-rippable three- to six-foot southwest groundswell. Of course, Gabe Kling is familiar with ASP hurdles, and last year’s wildcard snub didn’t stop him from destroying a stacked field of international competitors to claim the $20,000 1st-place prize and 6,500 priceless ratings points.

Over 35 of the World Tour’s 45 representatives joined the world’s hottest young rippers at the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro and attendant Oakley Pro Junior, with Billabong Pro Santa Catarina winner Jadson Andre hucking his now-trademark frontside air-reverses, devil-may-care punters Josh Kerr and Jordy Smith getting downright futuristic, Young Turks Owen Wright, John John Florence, and Sebastian Zietz combining fluid style with above-the-lip flair, and former World Champions Andy Irons and CJ Hobgood also adapting to stay in the mix. Meanwhile, East Coast workhorses Dylan Graves, Brian Toth, Eric Geiselman, Cory Lopez, and Kling fought their way through multiple stacked heats with a shot at future World Tour glory dancing in their heads.

But the final day of the event saw the Modern Collective generation falling like flies, as John John lost to CJ, Irons beat Wright at the last minute, and Aussie journeymen Adrian Buchan and Chris Davidson downed Andre and Zietz, respectively. On the Rightside front, Toth lost in the Round of 96, Geiselman and Graves bowed out in the Round of 48, and Kling and Lopez met in a Round of 16 nightmare for East Coast surf fans, with Kling barely advancing to the quarterfinals, where he matched up with an always-dangerous World Title #2 Jordy Smith.

Wave knowledge trumped fins-free antics in that heat, however, as a slowly declining swell left Smith scrambling at the last minute for a 7.60 that could match Kling’s on-point backside blasts. Jordy got the wave and jacked the inverted air, but came down with only a 7.27, allowing Gabe to continue his sneaky ascent to the final. “There were no easy heats out there, and I felt like I just kept squeaking through,” Kling said. “I didn’t even win a heat until it went to man-on-man [in the Round of 16].”

Unfortunately, CJ fell in the quarterfinals to a rampaging Andy Irons, who posted 18.57 points to silence the doubters of his 2010 comeback. But Gabe enacted a bit of karmic revenge on Irons in the semis, revenging CJ’s loss and also ameliorating the 2009 wildcard situation — remember, Andy was a shoe-in for the first 2010 ASP wildcard after spending a year-long “sabbatical” relaxing at home in Kauai. Maybe that’s why Andy broke his dream board cranking the first turn against Kling, never regaining his footing after that. “I knew it was going to be a good heat,” Irons said. “Gabe had been having a good contest, he took Jordy out in the last round, and I knew he wasn’t going to be a slouch. As soon as my board broke, I felt like my dreams got crushed right there and it was kind of hard to pick myself back up.”

After defeating two of the best surfers in the world — from two different generations of surfing orthodoxy, no less — Kling’s final against World Tour #13 and fellow power broker Chris Davidson was almost an afterthought, especially for those haters who poo-pooed the rail-surfing clinic Davo and Gabe put on after dispatching all the fighter pilots earlier in the day. Davo opened up the exchange and took a quick lead with a 7.17, but Kling never looked back after his second wave came in at a 7.77. Minutes later, Davidson stumbled and went on a small inside right, allowing Gabe to link multiple bottom turn/lip bash combos on the bomb of the set for a personal event-high 8.73. “I was going to try airs,” Kling laughed after the win. “Those [other] guys can do them on any section but it has to be a perfect one for me… so it didn’t happen.”

What did happen, however, qualifies as the best day of Kling’s long and storied surfing life, at arguably the biggest non-World Tour event held so far in 2010. “I kind of peaked at the right time and had a lot of luck on my side,” Gabe said. “This gives me so much confidence with 35 of the 45 guys from the tour here. It’s huge for me, definitely the biggest win of my career.”

It should also serve as a wake-up call to the ASP for blowing it on last year’s wildcard selection — hopefully with the momentum from his Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro win, Gabe will make the mid-year cut and regain his rightful place on the Dream Tour. “Last year’s injury adds to this win,” Gabe finished. “I was out for eight months sitting on the couch and watching everyone surf when it was my year on tour. It was pretty disappointing for me, [so] the injury makes this that much sweeter.”

For full results, photos, and video from the ASP PRIME Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro and Oakley Pro Junior, visit www.Nike6LowersPro.com

Updated ASP rankings can be found at www.ASPWorldTour.com

Go Gabe! from Spectad on Vimeo.