Parkinson was starting his world title defence, Kelly Slater was hungry to get ‘his’ title back and in front of a frothing crowd the two went head to head in spinning Kirra perfection. The heat swung back and fourth, when Parkinson caught the seemingly winning wave.
Slater though had priority, dropped in on him and blocked him from getting the score he needed whilst racking up a solid one himself. Perfectly legal the friends laughed about it later, and neither went on to claim the title.