Congratulations Joel Parkinson -  Winner of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach 2011

The celebration of the 50th year of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach was blessed with a swell that was considered to be one of the best swells in recent history. The massive crowd that went down to Bells Beach to watch the competition had the opportunity to watch the world's best surfers shredding the waves with top high performance surfing.

The australian surfer Joel Parkinson, 30,  defeated good o' friend and former two-time ASP World Champion Mick Fanning (AUS), 29, in an exciting heat which rolled on perfect, solid six-to-eight foot (2 – 2.5 metre) waves at Bells Beach.

Parko started the heat with a 8.53 and led all the way through the finals using his priority at the end of the heat to drop in on Mick Fanning who was coming on the wave already but had to let Parko go and score a perfect 10!

"To me, Mick (Fanning) has been the form surfer of the event and I was never going to take him lightly, I think we both had the same game plan of getting the first good one that came through and putting the momentum behind us. We scrapped for that first wave and I got the nod. Even though it was a mid-8, I knew I needed a lot more to hold him off so I just kept the pressure on from there. It's incredible!!! It's not so much the fact that I've won the event, but more so that it's the 50th anniversary. It feels that much more special. We've had such good waves too. I can't remember the last time that Bells had such good waves. I'm so excited. I can't believe this.", Parkinson said.

Regarding the last two years that Joel Parkinson has had some injuries which has stopped him from trying to get his so dreamed (and deserved) World Title, Parko said: ""I definitely feel like I'm back, I feel like I'm surfing better than I was back in '09 before I hurt my ankle. I'm feeling fit, I have some really good boards under my feet and I'm excited for the rest of the year." That was the 3rd time the Gold Coast local, Joel Parkinson has won at Bells Beach and also it was his 10th Tour victory overall and with this victory, Parko has gone from 9th to 2nd place on the ASP WT Rankings.

"It was a tough Final. For some reason overtime we have a heat he gets in sync real early. I tried to fight back but it was too little too late. Surfing against your mate is just like surfing against anyone else you've just got to go out and think about yourself and catching waves and getting scores. To have a mate beat me makes it a bit easier to swallow, but I'm still fired up for the rest of the year.", said Mick Fanning who moves from 13th to 6th on the ASP World Title Rankings.

The brazilian Adriano de Souza (BRA), 24, was another name on the competition, sending home Kelly Slater and some other big names and only loosing for the competition winner in the Semifinal. "I found my rhythm in the heat against Kelly (Slater), but against Joel (Parkinson) I couldn't find any waves. I'm so frustrated because I wanted to ring the Bell, but I'm really happy with my result. Kelly is my hero, 10 x ASP World Champ, he just didn't get any waves, then it happened to me in the next round. It happens to everyone. Next up is my home event in Brazil, I hope Brazil is proud of me and Jadson (Andre) for doing well at this event." said Adriano de Souza who goes from 9th to 4th on the ASP World Title Rankings.

Kelly Slater did not had a chance against Adriano de Souza and said: "It's not my day, not my week and that happens. For some reason you don't make the right choices and you're not in sync with it, I'm definitely not in the zone this week at all. Every heat of mine has had slow surf and then when there were, waves I was on the wrong ones. It's the way it goes, you win some you lose some"

When Kelly Slater was asked about this years campaign, he said: "We're two events in and I've got a 1st and a 5th so I'm averaging about a 3rd, you want to be there and higher. These kind of waves favor the best guys, the guys you're going to expect to be at the top at the end of the year and all those guys are still in the event. A 5th isn't that bad a result, but when all the guys who you expect to be in the world title hunt finish higher than you it feels like a 17th."

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH FINAL RESULTS:

1 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.53
2 – Mick Fanning (AUS) 13.26

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH SEMIFINAL RESULTS:

SF 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.33 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.00
SF 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.87 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.23

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:

QF 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.66 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 13.16
QF 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 18.00 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 11.24
QF 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.16 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 11.10
QF 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.46 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.03

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 5 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Owen Wright (AUS) 14.17 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 9.26
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.97 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 13.66
Heat 3: Chris Davidson (AUS) 16.03 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.37
Heat 4: Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.37 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.93

ASP WORLD TITLE RATINGS (After Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach):

1. Kelly Slater (USA) 15,200 pts
2. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14,000 pts
3. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13,000 pts
4. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 10,500 pts
4. Tiago Pires (PRT) 10,500 pts