Fanning Storms France

By: johnnyutah | September 28th, 2009 at 11:10am

Joel Parkinson is crispy black and smoking about now, and he needs
help, because he's been struck by lightning twice in the past two
weeks. Somebody needs to yank his ass inside and batten down the
hatches--and quickly-- if they want to keep his title hopes alive.
Because Mick Fanning, the man behind that lighting storm, is still looming, and right about now it looks like Parko just put a metal driver in his hand as the clouds are growing darker.

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Fanning just won again at the Quiksilver Pro in France,
defeating his mate Bede Durbidge in the Final with the same laser-sharp
attack he's been bringing all year. While early on this season Mick's
flashes looked pretty out there on the horizon, they weren't
threatening anything or anyone. Up until last week Fanning had gone
without a win since 2007, the year he won his title. But after
back-to-back direct hits at Trestles and Les Bourdains in the span of a
week, he's jolted this season's title race back to life with only three
events left to go.

"It's back on for sure," says Fanning. "I'm just phsyced on heading into the rest of the season."

Fanning
has pulled away from the rest of those giving chase with his wins,
making it a two horse race now. Fanning was trailing Parko by more than
900 points heading into France, he now trails him by a scant 146 points
as the tour heads to Spain.

Both CJ Hobgood and Kelly Slater
were dealt serious blows today by failing to capitalize on Parko's
second-straight early loss. Hobgood lost to Ben Dunn in the fourth
round. Slater, meanwhile, made it to the quarterfinals, where
Portugal's Tiago Pires--a frequent thorn in his side--defeated him in a
close one.

Tiago is one of the only surfers who actually beat Slater last year
during his amazing title run. Before his loss today, Slater was
cautiously optimistic after Parko's loss on Saturday, "I don't smell
blood yet," he said. "I'm still trying to find him in the forest."

Slater
looked rattled by the loss. He knows now some clear-cutting will be
necessary in Mundaka if he wants to keep his title hopes from fading to
total blackness. Both he and CJ Hobgood have had success at Mundaka in
the past, but the problem now is they're both chasing two surfers
instead of one. The Australians must have a total meltdown for either
to get his foot in the door.

In the meantime, Parko and Mick will be trying to slam it on each other.

Things just got a lot more interesting.

-PointGrinder

Results of Quiksilver Pro France 2009

1. Mick Fanning
2. Bede Durbidge
3. Patrick Beven, Tiago Pires
5. Ben Dunn, Bobby Martinez, Kelly Slater, Taj Burrow

CURRENT ASP WORLD TOUR TOP 10 (After Quiksilver Pro France):

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