Julian Wilson dominates Round 1 heat at Quiksilver Pro France – 2011 ASP World Tour
The eighth heat of Quiksilver Pro France’s Round 1 featured Julian Wilson and Bede Durbidge from Australia, along with Dusty Payne from Hawaii squaring off for the Round 3 spot on Wednesday, October 5, at La Graviere in France.
Wilson dominated the heat from the beginning to the end, eventually sealing the fate of the contest in his favour to move directly into the third round. Durbidge and Payne struggled to hold their own throughout the entirety of the heat and finished in second
and third position respectively, which sent them off to Round 2.
The 22-year-old Wilson was turning out to be quite a fierce competitor over the last few months and consistently delivered spectacular performances to make his presence felt in nearly all of the elite tour events that have been held this year. Even though
the ASP World Tour has pitted him against the some of the most intimidating competition one could possibly imagine, the young Australian still managed to stand out and shine.
A Semi-Final finish in the recently concluded Hurley Pro event in America was just the sort of thing that Wilson needed to boost his confidence before resuming his campaign for the ASP World Title in France. The six-to-seven waves had been troubling the
surfers since morning and it was only natural to expect a low-scoring battle during the eighth heat.
However, Wilson had no intention of letting Mother Nature call the shots and defied all odds to come up with an exquisite performance. He caught a wave early in the heat to score 6.83 points off it to take the lead. A long and determined search allowed him
to lock on to a juicy wave late in the 30-minute heat, which he utilised to add an additional 8.60 points to his account. Moving to a heat-total of 15.43 points, the Australian faced no real threat from any of his competition and went on to clinch a comfortable
victory.
Durbidge had a tough time out in the sea and failed to get his hands on a good score. After a lengthy and desperate hunt, he only managed to collect a 5.00 and 1.80-point wave, consequently getting forced to settle for second place.
Payne seemed to have completely succumbed to the challenging surfing conditions and was unable to get a single decent wave-score. He eventually rounded out the third position after finishing with a heat-total of 3.16 points, which included a 1.33 and 1.83-point
wave.
The disappointing performances by Durbidge and Payne got them relegated to Round 2, putting them into a must-win situation or else get eliminated from the competition.
For more updates on Round 1 of Quiksilver Pro France, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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