Joel Parkinson downs Owen Wright to enter Rip Curl Pro Search Quarter-Finals – 2011 ASP World Tour
Australia’s Joel Parkinson and Owen Wright had failed to deliver during the fourth round of Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco, but they were not quite done yet and took the waves again in the fourth heat of Round 5 to compete for the Quarter-Final spot on
Monday, November 7, at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, America.
The contest turned out to be totally one-sided as Parkinson completely stole the show with his performance while receiving no challenge from his rival, Wright. The convincing victory sent Parkinson off into the Quarter-Finals while removing his opponent
from the contention for the event-title.
Prior to the fourth heat of Round 5, America’s Brett Simpson and Patrick Guduaskas were scheduled to take each other on in a battle for survival. However, Guduaskas had not healed from the injury sustained during his Round 3 heat and after remaining out
of action during the fourth round, he was forced to pull out of the fifth round as well, consequently giving Simpson a walk-over into the Quarter-Finals.
With only one slot left vacant in the next round, the 30-year-old Parkinson took on his young countryman, Wright. Both the surfers had been simply amazing throughout the ASP World Tour season so far, though the 21-year-old Wright had struggled to attain
consistency at the current stop of the tour.
As the battle for survival got under-way, Parkinson got off to a relatively solid start and locked a wave to post a 5.43 on the score-board. Wright seemed to be struggling to adjust to the conditions yet again and despite the three-to-five foot waves on
offer, he failed to pull of his tricks cleanly. After a determined search, he managed to score a mere 3.57 off his first business-wave.
As the heat came close to the half-way stage, Parkinson pushed his opponent on the back-foot even further by throwing a string of impressive turns on a wave to earn 6.17 points and consequently taking his heat-total to 11.60 points.
Desperate for a decent score, Wright increased his efforts to get his hands on a good score but to no avail. He only managed to add an additional 2.83 points to his account, finishing with a two-wave total of 6.40 points. The disappointing performances forced
him to surrender victory to Parkinson, sending the latter to the Quarter-Finals.
For more updates on Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco Quarter-Finals, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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