Wilson out of tour

JULIAN Wilson could not have done much more in his third round heat at the Quiksilver Pro yesterday but it was not enough as he fell short against Taj Burrow.

JULIAN Wilson could not have done much more in his third round heat at the Quiksilver Pro yesterday but it was not enough as the Coolum Beach rookie fell short against world No.3 Taj Burrow.

Wilson was eliminated from the opening contest of the World Championship Tour after his two-wave total of 13.94 could not match Burrow's 15.27.

Burrow, the 2010 Quiksilver Pro champion, opened his account with scores of 7.40 and 6.43 before Wilson made an uncharacteristic mistake on what looked to be a quality wave.

Burrow improved his score with a 7.87, meaning Wilson needed to post two high-scoring waves within the last 10 minutes of the heat.

Wilson looked to have produced the goods though when he pulled into two tubes on the one wave but the judges didn't agree, awarding him 7.77 for what looked to be a nine-point ride.

He battled hard, registering 6.17 for another slick tube ride, but it wasn't enough as Burrow went through to the fourth round of the Snapper Rocks tournament.

Mick Fanning was the big shock of yesterday with the 2009 world champion losing to Hawaii's Dusty Payne.

Ten-time world champion Kelly Slater is still in the contest along with Joel Parkinson whose knowledge of the break saw him account for Kai Otton.

Matt Wilkinson nearly pulled off the manoeuvre of the contest when he attempted a rodeo flip in his heat against Heitor Alves.

“I nearly pulled a massive rodeo and got excited about halfway through, I was thinking ‘I've done everything perfect' but I think I just spun it a little too much,” he said.

“I thought I had that thing, I was so close. It felt good and it's good to get the crowd on their feet, so I'm stoked.”

Originally published as Wilson out of tour