Joel Parkinson and John John Florence survive Round 2 of 2012 Hurley Pro
Australia’s Joel Parkinson and Hawaii’s John John Florence bounced back from disappointing start at the 2012 Hurley Pro, the latest stop on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, claiming victory in their respective
Round 2 heats that went down at Lower Trestles in California, America, on Monday, September 17.
Parkinson got the better of America’s Conner Coffin to advance to the third round while removing the latter from the contention for the event title.
The second heat saw America’s Even Geiselman succumb to the impressive performance put on by Florence, with the latter moving in the third round while the former got ejected from the competition.
The tide had improved over the night, with the sea offering three-to-four foot waves on the second day of the competition. The opportunity was definitely there for the elite ASP surfers to treat the crowd in attendance as well as the global audience to a
series of thrilling performances.
The opening heat of Round 2 pitted Parkinson and Coffin in a one-on-man battle for survival. Both the surfers had failed to make much of an impact during their previous heat and therefore found themselves standing on the edge with very little room for error.
As the battle got underway, Parkinson, current No.2 on the ASP World Championship Tour rankings, went through a series of average wave-scores before posting a 6.83 on the score-board. He immediately followed it up with an outstanding 9.00 point ride, moving
to a heat-total of 15.83 points as a result.
Coffin got off to a modest start, earning a 4.50 off his first business-wave and only managed to back it up with a 6.23-point ride afterwards to finish with a heat-total of 10.73 points. The response posed no threat to Parkinson’s lead and thus sent the
Australian into the next round.
“Surfing in that first heat of the day can be difficult because you don’t really know what’s going to be happening with the judging,” Parkinson said. “You feel like a guinea pig heat and you’ve got to get out there and just start it. Whether it’s a 5 or
a 9, you have to just take it. It was clean and offshore and I knew Conner (Coffin) has a really nice carve and I was thinking I’d match that.”
The second heat saw the young Hawaiian force Florence take down Geiselman in what turned out to be a nail-biting affair.
The 19-year-old Florence got off to a great start, collecting a 7.67 off his very first wave of the heat, but had to wait quite a bit before finally being able to back it up with a 6.70-point ride.
Geiselman was pretty impressive as he put on a determined fight to respond to his rival’s performance. Scoring a 6.00 and 7.93 off his top-two waves, he had to settle for a heat-total of 13.93 points, 0.44 points short of the required score and was therefore
forced to concede victory to his Hawaiian rival.
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