Joel Parkinson downs Julian Wilson to secure place in Quarter-finals at Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast
Australia’s Joel Parkinson got the better of fellow countryman Julian Wilson in the third heat of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast’s Round 5 that went down at the iconic Snapper Rocks in Queensland, Australia, on Tuesday, February 28.
The crucial victory served to take Parkinson into the Quarter-finals, removing Wilson from the contention for the event title.
The first stop of the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour was turning out to be thrilling affair with plenty of surprises and upsets. Some of the seemingly strongest contenders for the event title had been already eliminated by the
time the event reach its fourth day, while a few high-profile surfers were competing for survival in the fifth round.
The 2012 ASP World Runner-Up Parkinson and his compatriot Wilson were among the surfers who had been forced to take a trip to the fifth round to earn their place in the Quarter-finals after losing to South Africa’s Jordy Smith and Australia’s Taj Burrow
in the fourth round respectively.
Pitted against each other in a battle for survival during the fifth round, Parkinson and Wilson were determined to walk away with the win, perfectly aware of the potential and capability of each other.
As the heat got underway, the 23-year-old Wilson got down to business right away and locked a way to collect a 7.43 off it, grabbing an early lead.
However, the vast experience of Parkinson enabled him to detect a juicy wave approaching. He immediately paddled towards it to ride it and eventually posted an 8.00 on the score-board to move past his rival on the score-board.
A few minutes later, the 30-year-old Australian ended up getting stung by a blue-bottle jelly fish. Despite the pain, he managed to score a perfect 10 off his second business-wave to reach a heat-total of 18.00 points.
Wilson seemed to be at a complete loss of ideas and responded with a disappointing 2.63-point wave, consequently finishing with a heat-total of 10.06 points to concede victory to Parkinson.
“I got stung by a blue-bottle and that fired me up!” Parkinson said. “There’s still some good waves out there and I thought we were going to have an air-off. Julian (Wilson) did some, and I tried a few, then that one came through and it had some good air
sections, but they were better turn sections. I’ve got some rivalries going today – I surfed against Jordy (Smith) and we have a good one going, now Julian and I are one building too. That’s what makes healthy competition. You’re happy to get involved in a
real rivalry.”
With the conclusion of the third heat, the competition moved on to the final heat of the fifth round to determine who got to secure the last remaining spot in the Quarter-finals.
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