Owen Wright ousts Julian Wilson to enter Hurley Pro Final – 2011 ASP World Tour
After an exciting first Semi-Final, fans expected to receive yet another dose of adrenaline-pumping action during the second Semi-Final of Hurley Pro, the seventh stop on the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, which went down at
the iconic point-break of California, America, on Wednesday, September 21.
The Semi-Final battle between Australia’s Julian Wilson and his compatriot, Owen Wright, turned out to be a dramatic and thrilling affair, though the latter managed to clinch a convincing victory over Wilson in the end to advance through to the Final.
The 21-year-old Wright is recognised as one of the strongest contenders for the ASP World Title by consistently delivering epic performances for the last month or so. The young Australian made it into the Finals to face American, Kelly Slater, at both the
previous stops of the elite tour.
While he succumbed to the surfing icon in the huge barrels of Tahiti, the beach-break waves of New York saw him overcome the greatest surfer in the history of the sport to register his first overall win of the season. Two spectacular performances also moved
him to the Number Two spot on the ASP World Title Rankings. Carrying his form to Lower Trestles, Wright had been simply outstanding during the initial rounds and Quarter-Final to reach the Semi-Final.
His opponent in the Semi-Final, Wilson, had not been anything short of impressive at all. He had got-off to a solid start and smoothly flowed through the event, before dealing with his first blow at the hands of Australia’s Joel Parkinson in Round 4. After
making a strong comeback in the relegation Round 5, the young Australian went on to avenge himself by ousting Parkinson from the competition in the Quarter-Finals.
As the second Semi-Final kicked-off, Wright got-off to an excellent start, locking a juicy wave to pull off a string of exquisite tricks and earning 7.67 points for the effort. Wilson made a grave error of meddling with his rival’s first wave and ended up
getting marked for interference, consequently getting penalised.
Looking to increase the pressure on his rival, Wright immediately locked another wave and utilised it to add an additional 7.07 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of 14.74 points. Chasing the required score while in a handicap that was caused
by the interference call early in the heat, Wilson scored 7.37 and 5.33 points off his two best waves. He eventually finished with a net heat-total of 10.04 points, which included an adjustment for the interference penalty.
The consistent performance by the progressive Australian force, Wright, carried him to the Final to compete against Slater for the third consecutive time in a row.
For updates on the Hurley Pro Final, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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