Wet ‘N’ Wild With Rockin’ Fig:

The Assn. of Surfing Professionals’ Quiksilver Pro finished up over the weekend in France, and it looks like a world title race is on. Aussie Mick Fanning made it two for two, with back-to-back wins at Trestles and now France.

Fanning was slashing away on the lefts, racking one turn after another to take out fellow countryman big Bede Durbidge.

In the semi-finals, Fanning beat Portugal’s Tiago Pires, who beat nine-time world champ Kelly Slater in the quarters. Durbidge edged French favorite Patrick Beven in the other semi-final. Also losing in the quarters were Santa Barbara’s Bobby Martinez and Australians Taj Burrow and Ben Dunn.

Beven also eliminated points leader Joel Parkinson in Round 3. And Huntington Beach’s Timmy Reyes is having some tough luck this season, getting ousted in Round 2, as did San Clemente’s Chris Ward, who showed up late for his heat and was out of sync.

So “Parko,” who has three wins this season and was cruising with a commanding lead, is now leading Fanning by less than 150 points. “Parko” has 5,896 points, while Fanning is closing the gap with 5,750. Florida’s C. J. Hobgood is hanging in third and has 4,872 points, Durbidge moved up to fourth in the standings with 4,792, while Slater is fifth and has 4,638. He is one surfer you can never count out of the world title race till its mathematically calculated. Brazil’s Adriano de Souza is sixth, Burrow seventh, hot goofy-footer Martinez is ninth, Carlsbad’s veteran Taylor Knox 10th, while Ventura’s rad man, Dane Reynolds, is in 11th in his second season. Reyes and “Wardo” need to get it going, sitting in the 32nd and 35th spots, respectively, with three events left — Mundaka, Spain, from Monday to Oct. 17, the “Search” in Portugal from Oct. 19 to 28, and the Pipeline in Hawaii from Dec. 8 to 20 to wrap it up.

For the women, the $100,000 Beachley Classic started running on the best days from Wednesday to Monday at Dee Why Northern Beach in New South Wales, Australia. World champ Stephanie Gilmore won the first event at the Gold Coast and got a second at Bells Beach and is leading the women’s standings. Second is Brazilian Silvana Lima, who won Bells and is looking to tighten things up with a good showing. Third is the former world champ from Peru, Sofia Mulanovich, and some new hotties to watch for; Hawaiian Coco Ho and Aussie Sally Fitzgibbons have been ripping it up lately.

Also, it looks like former multi-time world champ Layne Beachley is coming out of retirement and is surfing her own event.

See you in the lineup.

RICK FIGNETTI is a 10-time West Coast champion and a longtime KROQ-FM surfologist. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at (714) 536-1058.