LOWER TRESTLES, California/USA - Gabe Kling, 29, won the ASP PRIME 6.0 Lowers Pro over Chris Davidson, 33, in two-to-four foot surf at the famed cobblestone pointbreak of Lower Trestles. Throughout the entire week world's finest surfers pushed the performance barriers of competitive surfing of competition while reveling in the firing south swell.

The shift to the ASP One World Rating attracted more than 30 ASP Dream Tour competitors and the globe's hottest up-and-coming surfers to Lower Trestles.

Kling quietly navigated his way through the early rounds of competition before gaining momentum in the final day of action. The Floridian talent unleashed a furious backhand attack on the Lowers lefthanders and combined his heats with a repertoire of powerful carves and rail gouges on his forehand to eliminate current ASP Dream Tour No. 2 Jordy Smith, 22, in the Quarterfinals, and former three-time ASP World Champion Andy Irons, 31, in the Semifinals before taking out the 6.0 Lowers Pro title over Davidson.

"There were no easy heats out there and I felt like I just kept squeaking it through," Kling said. "I didn't even win a heat until it went to man-on-man. I kind of peaked at the right time and had a lot of luck on my side. This is the biggest win of my career."

The Floridian regular-footer's win will help to catapult Kling to the higher rung of the ASP One World Ratings, substantially helping his chances of qualification for next year's ASP Dream Tour.

"This gives me so much confidence with 35 of the 45 guys from the tour here," Kling said. "It's huge for me, this is definitely the biggest win of my career. This is Lowers with the best guys and this win is just huge."

Davidson, who posted some of the event's highest scores throughout competition with lightning fast surfing and massive gouges and fins-free turns, won every heat leading up to his Final matchup against Kling, but was unable to find a rhythm in their bout and finished runner-up.

"I'm not disappointed with my performance, but I'm a little disappointed with the way that I played out the Final," Davidson said. "I shouldn't have let him have that one left and I shouldn't have gone on that little right and then he got that bomb. I was just out of rhythm and didn't really play a smart final, but all compliments to Gabe. He surfed really well on the waves that he got. I knew it was going to be tough and I'm stoked to make the Final."

The wily Australian has kicked off his 2010 ASP Dream Tour campaign in strong form and feels that his Final appearance at this year's 6.0 Lowers Pro is only going to add to his momentum after such inspirational surfing displayed by his fellow competitors throughout the week.

"I've been feeling really good this year," Davidson said. "I've got a couple of ninths and just to come to America, there is so much talent here, it's good to come here and make the Final against all of these guys after everyone was ripping so hard all week. I'm just trying to take the good out of it and I'm psyched to move on."

Andy Irons, 31, who is a former three-time ASP World Champion, dispensed amazing performances heat-after-heat, but stumbled in the Semifinals against Kling after breaking his board in the early minutes of their bout and was unable to recover throughout their heat. Irons finished equal third overall.

"I knew it was going to be a good heat," Irons said. "Gabe (Kling) has been having a good contest, he took Jordy (Smith) out in the last round and I knew he wasn't going to be a slouch. As soon as my board broke, it just kind of broke my whole deal. That's my board that has gotten me back into a good rhythm and when it broke, I kind of felt like my dreams got crushed right there and it was kind of hard to pick myself back up."

Irons, who is currently competing as a full-time competitor on the ASP Dream Tour after a one-year sabbatical, looked at his impressive finish at Lowers as a step in the right direction to help build his momentum as the ASP World Title Race season progresses.

"I haven't made more than three heats in about two years, so to make the Semifinals, that's a great result for me," Irons said. "Although I would have liked to be in the final, I'm going to walk away from the beach psyched and it's a great result before going into J-Bay."

6.0 Lowers Pro Final Results: 1 - Gabe Kling (USA) 16.50 2 - Chris Davidson (AUS) 11.77

6.0 Lowers Pro Semifinals Results: SF 1: Chris Davidson (AUS) 14.93 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.53 SF 2: Gabe Kling (USA) 12.86 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 12.64

6.0 Lowers Pro Quarterfinals Results: QF 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 16.27 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 8.44 QF 2: Chris Davidson (USA) 14.93 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.40 QF 3: Andy Irons (HAW) 18.57 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 11.93 QF 4: Gabe Kling (USA) 16.50 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.77