Joel Parkinson and John John Florence head into the quarter-finals at 2012 Hurley Pro
Australia’s Joel Parkinson and Hawaii’s John John Florence continued their solid run at 2012 Hurley Pro, the latest stop on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, successfully making it through into the quarter-finals
after walking away with top honours from their respective Round 4 heats that went down at Lower Trestles in California, America, on Wednesday, September 19.
Parkinson clinched the win the third heat, leaving his fellow countryperson Josh Kerr to settle for second position, while Brazil’s Gabriel Medina finished third. Both the surfers were relegated to the fifth round as a result, getting one more chance at
earning their place in the quarter-finals.
With Florence walking away with the win in the fourth heat, Brazil’s Adriano de Souza and South Africa’s Jordy Smith rounded out the second and third place respective, consequently getting forced to take a trip to the relegation Round 5 where they had their
final chance of securing a quarter-final spot.
The latest day of the elite tour event saw four-to-six foot glassy waves breaking at the iconic Lower Trestles, considered by many as one of the best spots in the world to surf at. The massive crowd gathered at the event site had no doubt that they would
get to witness a series of thrilling contests.
The third heat pitted Parkinson against Kerr and Medina in a three-man battle for the quarter-final spot.
The in-form Australian got down to work right away, opening his account with an 8.00-point ride and eventually went on to add an additional 9.87-point ride, thus reaching a heat-total of 17.87 points, which remained unbeatable until the end to see him through
to victory.
Kerr finished in second place with a heat-total of 13.63 points, while Medina scored an 8.23 and 7.17 off his best-two waves, but ended up getting penalised for interference and consequently finished with a heat-total of 11.82 points.
The next heat saw Florence put on an outstanding performance to steal the show despite getting pitted against the heavy-weights of surfing, namely De Souza and Smith.
The Hawaiian sensation went through a series of average scores before posting an 8.90 on the score-board and went on to back it up with an outstanding 9.67-point ride, thus finishing with a mammoth heat-total of 18.57 points.
“It felt good to get some good scores after that slow heat with Yadin (Nicol),” Florence said. “The waves looked fun and I don’t know if it was me or the waves, but that heat ended up being weird. I switched my board up and went out with a fresh start and
ended up having a good time in Round 4. I’m so stoked to be straight in to the Quarters because those Round 5 heats tend to be the gnarliest heats of the event.”
De Souza responded with a remarkable performance of his own, earning a 7.80 and 8.47 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 16.27 points, which was just not enough to threat his rival’s score.
Smith collected a couple of scores in the six-point range to register a heat-total of 12.67 points.
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