| Surfboard destruction at the Quiksilver Pro France |
| Thursday, 04 October 2012 08:31 |
|
The 2012 ASP World Tour title race is on fire. Dane Reynolds defeated Mick Fanning in Round 3 of the Quiksilver Pro France, at La Graviere, in a good working day for surfboard shapers.
Several Australian contenders were eliminated from competition in shifting three-to-five foot (1 – 1.5 metre) waves, in the South of France. Reynolds caused the upset of the event this afternoon, eliminating current ASP WCT No. 1 Mick Fanning, in Round 3 of competition. "That was a tough heat," Reynolds said. "I was nervous before the heat coming up against Mick (Fanning) in kind of tense conditions. The peaks are all over the place and unfortunately for Mick (Fanning) he was out of rhythm and broke his board". "It’s not easy out there. There’s obviously not pressure on myself to get a result here like Mick, but I still want to perform and surf well." Despite the at-times trying conditions, Reynolds secured the fourth Perfect 10 of the event for an incredible free-fall drop on his forehand, navigating through several critical sections and exiting to the raucous applause of thousands on the beach. Kolohe Andino scored another major upset today, eliminating perennial ASP World Title threat and current ASP WCT No. 6 Taj Burrow, from Quiksilver Pro France in Round 3 of competition. Miguel Pupo took out the third big Australian scalp today with last minute heroics against current ASP WCT No. 11 Julian Wilson, in a hotly-contested Round 3 bout. Wilson opened up his account with a near-perfect 9.87 out of a possible 10 for an impressive backhand barrel, but was unable to overtake a late charge from the Brazilian goofy-footer. While Australia suffered major casualties today in the campaign for the Quiksilver Pro France, current ASP WCT No. 2 Joel Parkinson was not one of them. Parkinson survived a low-scoring affair against Californian Patrick Gudauskas, in Round 3. "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." Quiksilver Pro France Round 3 Results: |
