Joel Parkinson gewinnt Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach 2011

Joel Parkinson gewinnt zum dritten mal den Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach und seinen zehnten ASP WCT Event. Beim 50. Jubiläum des Events an der Südküste von Australien, setzte sich Parkinson in einem spannenden Finale gegen den zweifachen Weltmeister und seinem Sparringspartner Mick Fanning (beide aufgewachsen an der Gold Coast) mit 18.53 zu 13.26 Punkten durch. Parkinson begeistert im Interview:

“To me, Mick (Fanning) has been the form surfer of the event and I was never going to take him lightly,” meint Parkinson. “I think we both had the same game plan of getting the first good one that came through and putting the momentum behind us. We scrapped for that first wave and I got the nod. Even though it was a mid-8, I knew I needed a lot more to hold him off so I just kept the pressure on from there.”

“It’s incredible,” meint Parkinson weiter. “It’s not so much the fact that I’ve won the event, but more so that it’s the 50th anniversary. It feels that much more special. We’ve had such good waves too. I can’t remember the last time that Bells had such good waves. I’m so excited. I can’t believe this.”

Mit dem Sieg zeigt Parkinson, das er nach seinen langen Verletzungspausen wieder 100 Prozent Fit ist.

“I definitely feel like I’m back,” sagt Parkinson. “I feel like I’m surfing better than I was back in ’09 before I hurt my ankle. I’m feeling fit, I have some really good boards under my feet and I’m excited for the rest of the year.”

Parkinson ist nun mit 14,000 Punkten zweiter in der Weltrangliste - erster bleibt der aktuelle Weltmeister Kelly Slater. Slater verlor seinen Heat im Viertelfinale gegen den Brasilianer Adriano de Souza.

De Souza traf im Halbfinale auf den späteren Champion Parkinson und verlor mit 16.33 zu 12.00 Punkten. Kelly Slater zeigte sich entäuscht im Interview:

“It's not my day, not my week and that happens,” meinte Slater. “For some reason you don't make the right choices and you're not in sync with it, I'm definitely not in the zone this week at all. Every heat of mine has had slow surf and then when there were, waves I was on the wrong ones. It's the way it goes, you win some you lose some.”

Bei den Damen holte sich am Samstag Sally Fitzgibbons den Sieg.

Der nächste Stopp der ASP Weltmeisterschaft Season ist der Billabong Pro vom 11. bis zum 22.Mai in Rio de Janeiro.

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.53
2 – Mick Fanning (AUS) 13.26

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.33 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.00
SF 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.87 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.23

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.66 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 13.16
QF 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 18.00 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 11.24
QF 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.16 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 11.10
QF 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.46 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.03

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Owen Wright (AUS) 14.17 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 9.26
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.97 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 13.66
Heat 3: Chris Davidson (AUS) 16.03 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.37
Heat 4: Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.37 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.93

ASP WORLD TITLE RATINGS (After Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach):
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 15,200 pts
2. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14,000 pts
3. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13,000 pts
4. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 10,500 pts
4. Tiago Pires (PRT) 10,500 pts