ASP WORLD TOUR 2011 : Gabriel Medina (BRA), 17, took his second elite ASP World Tour event at the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco

Gabriel Medina (BRA), 17, has won the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco, defeating Joel Parkinson (AUS), 30, in firing three-to-five foot waves at Ocean Beach to secure his second elite ASP World Tour victory this season.

Stop No. 10 of 11 on the men’s ASP World Title Race, the Rip Curl Pro Search saw Kelly Slater (USA), 39, officially secure his 11th ASP World Title yesterday while several surfers looking to secure a result prior to the ASP Top 34 end of year rotation put in stellar performances.

Medina, who joined the ASP Top 34 after the midyear rotation, has been in amazing form thus far, winning two events after competing in just four as an official member of the 2011 roster. The highly-touted Brazilian wasted little time in his Final campaign against Parkinson, belting a 7.50 and a 9.00, both out of 10, in the opening minutes with critical backhand blasts and controlled the heat throughout its entirety.

“This has been incredible,” Medina said. “This is my second World Tour win and it has been great. I’m having fun on the Tour. I don’t know what I did out there, I just try to go big and it was great to have a final with Parko (Joel Parkinson). He is one of my favorite surfers.”

Medina’s run on the Final day of competition was nothing short of amazing, as he took the day’s highest heat total of 17.33, out of 20, while defeating freshly crowned 11-Time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA), 39, and Taylor Knox (USA), 40, before topping the Stylish Australian in the Final.

“I feel good and confident and I’m really happy,” Medina said after his Semifinals heat win. “It was hard with Taylor (Knox) and Kelly (Slater) and I’m just stoked. That was a tough heat and I knew it’d be hard. I just got my last wave and it saved me. Conditions are kind of fun, it’s cold, but it’s really fun and I just tried my best.”

Slater fought hard in his Quarterfinals matchup against young Brazilian Gabriel Medina, but was unable to find the score needed to advance out of the heat and is now changing his focus towards the final stop on the ASP World Tour at the iconic Banzai Pipeline.

“At this point I’m just going to be focused on Pipe,” Slater said. “I’d love to win Pipe. Every year Phil Roberts makes an amazing trophy. Gerry Lopez shapes it and Jeff Divine puts a photo on it and Phil Roberts paints it up. In my eyes that’s the prized possession in surfing. It’s really a piece of surf history. I won three years ago, but two years ago Taj (Burrow) got me and last year I gave Jeremy (Flores) that wave and I didn’t get the chance to make that Final. It’s exciting to have that chance.”

 Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco highlights can be found at www.live.ripcurl.com
 The next and final stop on the 2011 ASP World Tour will be the Billabong Pipe Masters, which unfolds from December 8 through 20, 2011.
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