Joel Parkinson and Jeremy Flores emerge triumphant in Round 3 at Billabong Pro Tahiti
Australia’s Joel Parkinson and France’s Jeremy Flores successfully advanced to the fourth round of Billabong Pro Tahiti, the fifth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, following their winning performances
in their respective Round 3 heats that went down at Teahupo’o in Taiarapu, Tahiti, on Sunday, August 26.
Parkinson got the better of America’s Taylor Knox in the seventh heat to secure his place in the fourth round while bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival.
The eighth heat saw Flores put on an impressive performance to down Brazil’s Heitor Alves, consequently advancing to the next round of the competition while sending his rival packing.
The rapidly increasing three-to-five foot waves breaking at the primary event site on the latest day of elite tour, promising to deliver a handful of exquisite performances as the best surfers from around the globe squared-off for survival in front of a
massive crowd, both physically present as well as catching the action live through webcast.
The seventh heat pitted Parkinson against Knox in a man-on-man battle for the Round 4 spot. While the Australian surfer had been in top-notch form since the start of the season, Knox had made his own intimidating form evident on the opening day of the latest
elite tour event, taking down the former two-time ASP World Champion Mick Fanning.
As the contest got underway, Parkinson went through a series of average scores before posting a 7.00 on the score-board and immediately followed it up with a 5.83-point ride, thus finishing with a heat-total of 12.83 points.
Knox responded with a lacklustre performance, managing to score a mere 1.70 and 2.77 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 4.47 points.
The eighth heat saw Flores square-off with Alves. The French surfer looked promising right from the word go, scoring a 6.60 off his first business-wave and went on to add an excellent 9.00 to his account in the dying minutes of the heat to end up finishing
with a heat-total of 15.60 points.
Alves responded with a couple of scores in the six-point range, finishing with a resultant heat-total of 12.60 points. The response proved inadequate, consequently forcing him to concede victory and thus the Round 4 spot to his rival.
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