Rip Curl Pro Portugal Recommences Hunt for the 2012 ASP World Title
SUPERTUBOS, Peniche/Portugal (Sunday, October 7, 2012) – The world’s best surfers are currently in transit from the South of France to the sand-bottom barrels of Peniche for the upcoming Rip Curl Pro Portugal to be held at Supertubos from October 10 – 21, 2012.
Stop No. 8 of 10 on the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour (WCT), the Rip Curl Pro Portugal will culminate the Dream Tour’s European leg and play a vital role in the determination of the 2012 ASP World Champion.
Joel Parkinson (AUS), 31, current frontrunner on the ASP WCT rankings, overtook the tour’s top position from Gold Coast stablemate Mick Fanning (AUS), 31, at the recent Quiksilver Pro France, but remains guarded when discussing how the 2012 ASP World Title race will ultimately play out.
“Mick (Fanning) had the No. 1 position for most of the season but it’s so tight at the top this year that anything can happen from event to event,” Parkinson said. “I’ve had three Runner-Up finishes this year from Brazil, Tahiti and Trestles so I’m focused on a win in Portugal. It’s a great wave and I’m pumped to be heading back there.”
Finishing Equal 5th at last year’s incredible installment of the event (which saw it completed in iconic conditions in a record three days), Parkinson views the the venue as one of his strong points on tour.
“The event was phenomenal last year,” Parkinson said. “Just perfect sandbar barrels for three days straight. It was like a blur. I get excited just thinking about it and hopefully we get the same conditions this year. Bring on Supertubos!”
Kelly Slater (USA), 40, reigning 11-time ASP World Champion and current ASP WCT No. 2, has been in devastating form lately, claiming back-to-back wins in California and Southwest France heading into the Rip Curl Pro Portugal.
“When you start working the numbers a little bit, I got that 500 pointer and a 13th, two bad results, already,” Slater said. “Parko (Joel Parkinson) is sitting on a 9th and a 5th. If I couldn’t get past Parko in France, it would have put a lot of pressure on me, but this (winning Quiksilver Pro France) has now put the pressure back on Mick (Fanning) because Parko, John John (Florence) and I did well at the first European leg stop.”
A Runner-Up finish at last season’s Rip Curl Pro Portugal, the iconic natural-footer is nothing if not motivated to return to the Peniche’s world-renowned sandbar barrels.
“When it’s on, Supertubos is one of the funnest waves in the world,” Slater said. “Last year’s event had three perfect days of barrels and hopefully we can get similar conditions this year.”
Adriano de Souza (BRA), 25, defending Rip Curl Pro Portugal winner, is currently ranked 6th on the ASP WCT, dropping one position after an uncharacteristic Round 2 exit at the last event in France.
“France was not a good event for me but that happens and you shake it off and focus on the next one,” De Souza said. “I love coming to Portugal. The people here are very supportive and it feels like a second home for me. To win last year, in those conditions, was such an incredible moment for me. It was one of the highlights of my career. I’m very excited about returning to Portugal.”
The Rip Curl Pro Portugal will be webcast LIVE via http://live.ripcurl.com
For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com
Category: All ASP News, ASP World Tour News
slater will win this no doubt, highway to 12th, take the 2 worst result each and he is far in the lead
Nice surfing from Conner but one blow tail does not a heatwin make. Ace’s surfing has more speed, precision, fluency and finesse.
That wave is not better than Ace’s best wave in the heat. The judges got it right that time…….pity they didn’t get it right in France.
Why is it that the posers on this website (and I mean those posing as journalists)every time they mention Kelly Slater have to insert the line “reigning 11-time ASP World Champion”? The guy is the 11-time reigning world champion, the best competitive surfer of all-time and for the most part the most recognizable face in this sport- and we all know it! Are they just trying to fill space?
And not just Kelly, every time they mention one of these pro’s names they feel the need to insert information that has nothing at all to do with the story at hand i.e. “so and so, from Coolongata,Australia”, or “current world number 27″ or “last years third place finisher”.
I am a fan of professional surfing and I enjoy reading the meat of these articles for useful information but half of the writing in these so-called articles is needless drivel.
Maybe the ASP should hire some journalists to write for them instead of their surf buddies and manufacturers reps.
it goes both ways sometimes antman. one example here…
http://youngwisetails.com/2011/10/hurley-lowers-pro/
It doesnt need to go both ways thats why i always post these comments the judging is a let down alot of the scores are just silly.I think the 2 top scores should not be pulled out during the heat just let them surf and give the guys an idea of who may be winning but not with the official scores,as alot of the scores are jus silly and also there is no way once the score is pulled out that i can be changed so there needs to be more time showing everyone replays with another set of judges doing that for everyone to see.Surfing is more technical more time should be taken judging each wave or the top 2 scoring waves bring it into the future.
slater should be further back in the running but he was given the heat against buchan but slater will take it with no question,,but it is just a reflection on the backward untechnical judging system that rules the tour.