The final between Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson, both from Australia, was awesome!
Mick won the last day of the JBay Open today, 19 July, in perfect eight-foot surf that pumped throughout the semis and final events.
Jeffreys Bay’s Supertubes produced the best waves of the year. Mick opened up with a 9-point ride in the beginning of the final and Joel was chasing from that moment onwards.
While both surfers got barreled and performed high speed carves and rail turns, it was Mick who came out on top with a 9-point ride and an 8-point ride to claim his first ASP victory of the year.
“It was an incredible day of surfing,” said an elated Mick afterwards. “The waves were amazing and we were so lucky to get it this good. It’s great to have JBay back and I’m just happy to be part of it all.”
It took a little time for the best ASP surfers in the world to adjust to the solid, stiff offshore conditions, and the first couple of heats were low scoring affairs, as people found their feet.
Before the semi-finals there was a heritage series heat, between former world champions Tom Curren and Mark Occhilupo. Pulling into a perfect set wave barrel, Curren was awarded a 10-point ride and victory.
The first semi saw Parko take victory after a 10-point ride despite a very strong performance by Matt Wilkinson. Both surfers were surfing to the best of their abilities, and it was Parko who got the nod in the highest scoring heat of the day.
In the second semi-final it was Mick Fanning who got the nod over Owen Wright. It was an explosive encounter, with Owen fighting tooth and nail to the finish, but he didn’t do enough to wrestle the win from Fanning.
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