Joel Parkinson downs Michel Bourez to claim overall win at inaugural Oakley Pro Bali– Surfing news
Australia’s Joel Parkinson clinching the overall win at the Oakley Pro Bali, stop no. 5 on the 2013 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, after getting the better of French Polynesia’s Michel Bourez in the final that went down
at the main event site of Keramas in Bali, Indonesia, on Thursday, June 27, 2013.
The success in Bali marked the first elite tour event victory for the defending ASP World Champion this season and giving him some hope of retaining his place on the throne.
“That was amazing,” Parkinson said. “That was the coolest experience coming up the sand. It wasn’t the greatest of the finals and I knew it wasn’t over. I figured if I got the best wave towards the end figured I’d have a chance. Michel (Bourez) ripped and
was probably the most in form surfer of the event. I dropped off my four fin back to my three fin and just didn’t get a good pump in that one good barrel and was hoping it didn’t lose me the final. From then on I knew I had to go to do turns.”
The 32-year-old Parkinson had gotten off to a rather uncharacteristic start at the Oakley Pro Bali, suffering a defeat in his Round 1 heat to find himself facing the risk of getting eliminated. However, he managed to bounce back strongly and continued to
gain moment from that moment to eventually make his way into the final.
Bourez was also pretty impressive throughout the entirety of the contest, doing extremely well to adapt to the changing surfing conditions, especially on the final day.
Both the surfers were evidently in form and therefore their bout for the overall victory at the event was expected to be nothing short of a nail-biter.
During the final, Bourez did not have a great deal of luck with the right-handers during the final and only managed to find a couple of scores in the six-point off his top-two waves to register a heat-total of 12.67 points.
Parkinson, on the other hand, got off to a pretty slow start in the final, apparently struggled to adapt to the four-to-six foot waves that were on offer. However, he managed to find his rhythm in the final minutes of the heat and got hold of a juicy right-hander
to post a 7.83 on the score-board.
He desperately continued to search for another decent score as the clock continued to tick. In the dying minutes of the heat, his determined effort paid off as he collected a 6.03 off his second business-wave to finish with a heat-total of 13.86 points.
The score served to seal the fate of the battle in his favour and consequently forced his rival to settle for a runner-up place, which also happened to be the best ASP World Championship Tour event of his career.
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