Round 3 of Quiksilver Pro France find some Australians going through
Australian powerhouse Joel Parkinson and his fellow countryperson Adrian Buchan advanced to the fourth round at Quiksilver Pro France, the seventh of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, after claiming
top honours in their respective Round 3 heats that went down at La Graviere in Hossegor, France, on Wednesday, October 3, 2012.
Parkinson managed to get the better of America’s Patrick Gudauskas in the seventh heat to confirm his place in the fourth round, bringing the contention for the event title to a premature end for his rival in the process.
The eighth heat saw Buchan competing with Brazil’s Alejo Muniz for survival, with the former standing victorious once the dust settled whereas the latter got eliminated from the competition.
The shifty waves breaking a the primary event site during the initial rounds of the competition put the skills and experience of the elite ASP surfers to an ultimate test, keeping them from cutting loose despite offering some pretty juicy barrels.
There was plenty of entertainment on offer for the huge crowd that had come all the way to La Graviere to experience the action up-close, whereas the global audience continued to catch every second of the action live through high-quality webcast.
Parkinson, who had been in top-notch form since the start of the season, had plenty of reason to eye a big result at the latest elite tour, since it could take him all the way to the top of the ASP World Championship Tour rankings.
After getting off to an ordinary start at Quiksilver Pro France, getting relegated to Round 2 after tasting defeat in Round 1, the Australian powerhouse bounced back strongly to make his way into the third round, where he had to pass through Gudauskas to
make the Round 4 cut.
As the battle got underway, the 31-year-old Parkinson got down to business right away, earning a 7.00 off his first wave in the opening minutes of the heat.
Keeping the momentum going, he went on to add a 3.07 to his account, thus moving to a heat-total of 10.07 points.
Gudauskas apparently struggled to find rhythm in the demanding conditions on hand. Despite a desperate effort, he only managed to score a 2.77 and 3.83 off his best-two waves, thus finishing with an insufficient heat-total of 6.60 points, thus conceding
a comfortable victory to Parkinson.
“They’re really tricky conditions,” Parkinson said. “I saw Dane (Reynolds) get a 10 and I wanted to try and find one like that, but I figured every other heat has been quite low scoring. So if you get a 7, it’s like a 9, and you get a 3 or a 4, the rest
of the heat I just played defense trying to keep him off anything. It was a tricky heat with not a lot of waves, and a lot of paddling. It doesn’t matter in these conditions who you draw – anyone can beat anybody.”
The eighth heat turned out to be a thrilling affair, with Buchan getting the better of his rival in the final minutes of the one-on-one bout.
The Australian surfer opened his account with a 2.93-poing ride, allowing Muniz to grab the lead with a 5.17-point wave a few minutes later.
As the heat progressed, the Brazilian surfer added another 2.53 points to his account, consequently moving to a heat-total of 7.70 points.
Requiring a decent score to challenge his rival’s position, Buchan was able to find a 7.83-point ride in the dying minutes of the heat, moving to a heat-total of 10.76 points and thus claiming top honours.
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