Joel Parkinson has been given his best chance yet of snatching the ASP World Tout Championship as his closest rivals Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning were knocked out in the 3rd and 5th rounds at the Rip Curl Pro in Portugal.
Despite clearing the decks of his closest rivals, Parko concedes there is still a ways to go before he relax. “Even though he (Slater) is in second on the ratings and he’s out of the event, we have a little bit of work to do in front of us,” Parkinson said.”It definitely tightens up the race a little. I guess doing that might bring it down to Pipe. I think it’s time for me to win another event though; it’s been far too long. Hopefully I’ve been keeping it for the right time.” In rough conditions good waves were a bit of a lottery but fellow Australians Owen Wright, Julian Wilson and Josh Kerr made it through to the quarter finals.
Stormy conditions are set to continue but there are predictions for an ever bigger swell in the coming days.
via ASP
Picture by Lucas Dawson at Getty Images
