Quiksilver Pro Day 1 Round 1 Highlights from McKinnon Media Productions on Vimeo.
SNAPPER ROCKS, Queensland/Australia (Saturday, 25 February, 2012): World No.2 Joel Parkinson (Aus), wildcard Dane Reynolds (USA) and Brazilian wonderboy Gabriel Medina are facing Round Two elimination, but the Kelly Slater (USA) super-show continued on the opening day of the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast presented by Land Rover.Snapper Rocks turned on a dredging 3-4ft swell on the outgoing tide when the men hit the water following Round One of the Roxy Pro and they didn’t disappoint with a spectacular show.
Slater (USA), 40, the 11-times ASP Men’s World Champion left little doubt a 12th World Title was easily achievable with a barrel-riding master class to lock in the day’s highest score of 18.80 for an easy win against Moskova Trials winner Australian Garrett Parkes (12.73) and highly-touted US rookie Kolohe Andino (10.60).
Slater locked in two nuggets scoring 8.93 and 9.87 to bring the big Snapper Rocks crowd alive. The recently turned 40 year-old said his nine-point ride lined up perfectly.
Adam Melling (AUS) was the giant killer on the first day relegating World No.2 Joel Parkinson (AUS) and dangerous wildcard Dane Reynolds (AUS) to a Round Two elimination heat.
In a tight and high quality heat, Melling (15.70), edged out Parkinson (15.43) and Reynolds (14.87), but the Lennox Head surfer admitted to some nerves after letting Parkinson take a potentially heat-winning wave in the dying stages.
Parkinson will meet Parkes in their elimination heat and Reynolds with take on Taj Burrow (WA) in his round two match-ups.
Burrow was relegated to round two by an inform Fred Pattachia (Haw) who used better positioning in the tricky line-up to advance with ease into round three. Pattachia who entered the event as a replacement surfer for fellow Hawaiina Dusty Payne said it was a bittersweet situation.
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> Rookie young gun Gabriel Medina (BRA), 19, is also the facing the prospect of an elimination heat after losing to fellow countryman and Tour veteran Raoni Manteiro, 29. Manteiro prevailed with a score of 11.63 ahead of Australian rookie Yadin Nicol (10.37) and Medina (9.60).
Manteiro, who made his debut on the Tour in 2004, was happy to get one over his young rival.
World No.5 Adriano de Souza (BRA), 25, opened the Quiksilver Pro with a tidy victory scoring 13.83 to defeat Taylor Knox (10.66) and Pipe Masters champion Kieren Perrow (7.00).
Event organisers will reconvene at 6:30am to access conditions for a possible 7:30am start with another promising swell forecast for Day Two.
