What a turn up! Both Kelly Slater and Andy Irons lost out in the semi-finals of the 2006 French Quiksilver Pro, leaving an all Australian final, in which Joel Parkinson from Coolangatta, Gold Coast, Australia beat close Gold Coast friend, Mick Fanning.
Parkinson put on a tremendous display in the final that saw both surfers heavily fatigued as they battled against the current of a receding tide which kept dragging them out of position. As in his quarter-final and semi-final contests, Joel excelled at grabbing the one wave that spelt victory. That ride in the final had the hugely vocal crowd on their feet when he managed to score a double tube and then follow that up with a huge air, locking in an 8.83.
The equal third placing of Slater and Irons has now put an interesting mathematical spin on the race for the world crown. If Slater wins in the next event at Mundaka, Spain, October 2, he could wrap up the championship and land a phenomenal eighth title.
But hot on his heals are Irons, Burrow, Fanning and now Parkinson who moves to fourth in the rankings. Each could steal Slater's thunder if they continue to finish higher than Slater in the remaining three Foster's ASP Men's World Tour events.
However, if Slater finishes second in Mundaka any of them must win or, if Slater finishes third, Taj Burrow can keep the challenge open if he finishes 5th while the others must still finish in front of the seven-time world champion. Got that........:-)
In a nutshell, Kelly Slater now leads the chasing pack by about 1000 points, you get 1200 point for first place in an event and the best 8 event scores are added together to form the rankings total. Of the 8 events now completed, Kelly has one event which is only contributing 250 points, this was in Fiji when he was injured and unable to compete, so you can see why he is smiling. Virtually any result will allow him to drop the Fiji score and he must be feeling quietly confident.
The Billabong Pro Mundaka is not far across the border in Spain and is scheduled to kick off on Monday, October 2, 2006. Both pictures on this post are by Karen Wilson, ASP copyright Covered Images.
