Julian Wilson prevails over Mitch Crews to step into Mr Price Pro Ballito finals – Surfing news
Australia’s Julian Wilson managed to earn himself a place in the finals of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime Mr Price Pro Ballito after getting the better of his fellow countryperson Mitch Crews in the second semi-final, which went down
at Willard’s Beach in South Africa, on Saturday, July 6, 2013.
It turned out to be an intense battle between the two in-form surfers as they fought tooth-and-nail until the end, but once the dust settled, it was Wilson who walked away with a successful result.
Wilson, the 24-year-old surfer from Queensland, seemed to have arrived at Ballito with one goal in mind and that was to climb to the No.1 spot on the ASP World Rankings.
Remaining focused on his goal, the Australian sensation delivered one sensational performance after another as he tamed the challenging South African conditions during the course of the event.
After a series of wins, he found himself pitted against his compatriot Crews, who had done pretty well himself to reach this far in the competition.
Both the surfers were determined to convert their excellent start into a successful ASP Prime result and walked away with the coveted ASP ranking points and hefty prize that was up for grabs.
As the semi-final got underway, Wilson did not take long to get down to business. Locking a juicy wave, he unloaded a series of exquisite manoeuvres to post a 7.50 on the score-board.
Crews had no intention of letting his rival steal the battle and consequently stepped up to catch a 6.93-point ride, thus keeping the contest very much alive.
In the final minutes of the heat, he added an additional 5.40 points to his account and moved to a two-wave total of 12.33 points.
The effort, however, turned out to be in win as Wilson found an 8.50-point ride, thus registering a heat-total of 16.00 points. The score remained unbeatable until the end to seal the fate of the battle in his favour.
Crews may have been disappointed over losing in the semi-finals, but he was glad to have made it this far in the competition.
“I’m really happy to get all the way to the Semis and to surf against Julian,” Crews said. “Jordy and Julian have been standouts all event and there’s not much you can do when they’ve got you. This is a big result for me and I hope to continue my run and
get a bunch more results to make the tour next year.”
Despite getting eliminated in the semi-finals he rose from World No.29 to World No. 27.
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