Billabong Coolum Classic
Presented by Printpoint

Billabong Queensland Championship Circuit
Sunshine Coast Australia
17 - 18 May 2008

Blake Wilson Wins Billabong Coolum Classic

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 18 May, 2008 : - - Sunshine Coast sensation Blake Wilson (Alex Headland) is the toast of Coolum after upstaging a class field of the state’s best open-aged surfers to win the annual Billabong Coolum Classic on the Sunshine Coast today.

The prestigious $5,000 tournament represented a golden opportunity for Queensland's premier open surfers to showcase their dazzling surf skills along with earning crucial rating points as the halfway mark of the 6-event, $30,000 Billabong Queensland Championship Circuit (QCC) presented by Printpoint reared its head.

21-year-old Wilson, who took out World Qualifying Series (WQS) campaigner Corey Ziems (Currumbin) and former World Tour competitor Shane Wehner (Byron Bay) on his way to the final, defied small yet contestable 0.5-1 metre beach break conditions at Coolum to beat Yamba’s Matt Jones, Yaroomba’s Dave Reardon-Smith and Palm Beach’s Jamie Thomson (Formerly Sunshine Coast) in the 25-minute finale.

“I wasn’t even going to compete in the event until a mate called me up and told me to go in it,” said Wilson, who won the Billabong Winter Classic in 2005. “I didn’t put any pressure on myself and just went in it for fun. That’s why I probably did so well. I’m over the moon.” 

After sitting behind Jones for the majority of the final, Wilson stole the lead form his rival with a near-perfect 8.25 wave score, forcing Jones to chase a 6.96 to claim victory. Jones claimed a 5.80 in the dying stages but it was not enough. Wilson accruing a final two wave combination of a 14.60 (out of a possible 20) to surf away with $2,000 and a valuable 1,000 rating points.

Jones finishing less than a point behind on 14.55 with Reardon-Smith (11.20) in third and Thomson (9.10) in fourth. “I knew going out in the final that whoever got the best waves was going to win,” he said. “I saw Matty (Matt Jones) get a couple of good ones straight off the bat, so I knew I had to go big. I just hung in there, kept my momentum and jagged the score I needed.

To cap things off, Wilson netted the Toohey’s Extra Dry ‘Wave of the Weekend’ for the highest individual wave score of the event. Wilson scoring a near perfect 9.8 ride in his round three heat to jag the four cartons of the clean crisp taste of Toohey’s Extra Dry. 

The lanky natural foot, who started his maiden ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) year in January, has run into career best form and will be looking to qualify for the 2009 ASP world tour by year’s end. In semi final one, Wilson unleashed his potent forehand attack to eliminate QCC frontrunner Ziems and Noosa ripper Luke Jory in a close scoring affair.

Semi final two was just as intense with Reardon Smith and Thomson ousting reigning QCC champion Trevor Tripcony (Yaroomba) and local young gun Eli Criaco with a class performance in the afternoon’s wind affected conditions. After three events on this year’s circuit, Ziems leads the race for the 2008 QCC crown. There he sits on top with 2110 points, more than 100 points clear of Reardon-Smith (1990) in second.

The Billabong Coolum Classic is the third event of the 2008 Billabong Queensland Championship Circuit (QCC), a six event - $30,000 series, that continues to set the benchmark for surfers aspiring towards a professional surfing career.

The 2008 Billabong QCC title will be decided from a surfer’s best four results from the six event series. The series winner will also score a wildcard into the trials of the 2009 Billabong Pro Tahiti and a second wildcard into the trials of the World Championship Tour (WCT) on the Gold Coast in early March, 2009.

The 2008 Billabong QCC is proudly presented by Printpoint.

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