Shaun Gossman : photo Jake White

Billabong Queensland Championship Circuit event #6
Presented by Printpoint

Surfing Queensland
Burleigh Point Queensland
21 December 2008

Gold Coast Surfing Ace Shaun Gossmann Crowned Billabong QCC Champion!

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 21 December, 2008 : - - Christmas has come early for Gold Coast surfing ace Shaun Gossmann, wrapping up the 2008 Billabong Queensland Championship Circuit (QCC) crown at Duranbah today. The former Durbanite’s fourth place finish at the season-ending Billabong Queensland Open was enough to seal the crown ahead of injured Currumbin surfer Corey Ziems. 

There were plenty of thrills and spills as small but clean conditions ensured highly contestable 0.5-1.0-metre waves for the ’08 decider. The final QCC event was to have been held two weeks ago but flat surf forced a postponement.

Coming into the prestigious, $5000 tournament on 2360-points, Gossmann’s finals appearance put the championship race beyond doubt, finishing on a total of 3030 points, just ahead of chief rival Ziems (2840), who was sidelined from the event with damaged vertebrae in his back, with Yamba’s Matt Jones (2755) in third.

Post final, Gossmann said he was stoked to bag the overall crown. “I was originally going to miss the decider as I was in Hawaii when the event was suppose to take place,” he said. “I’m over the moon that I was able to line-up in the tournament and secure my first QCC crown.”  

Event winner Brent Dorrington : photo Jake White

Despite finishing in second and third, Ziems and Jones have both qualified for a shot at the Quiksilver Pro Trials with Gossmann having already scored a spot in the Trials for the ASP World Tour event opener with a runner-up finish in yesterday’s Trials for Trials event.

Although losing the QCC war, local Coolangatta star Brent Dorrington won today’s battle, surviving a high-scoring final to nab his first QCC victory for 2008.

Dorrington was on fire at his home break, unleashing his trademark innovative manoeuvres to defeat Sunshine Coast surfer Blake Wilson (Alexandra Headlands), fellow Coolangatta surfer Nick Vasicek and QCC champion Gossmann. Opening slowly in the 25-minute final, Dorrington waited till the final 10 minutes of the final to net two scores of consequence.

With five minutes to go, Dorrington jagged a set wave before laying down a series of critical forehand maneouvres to net a high scoring 6.70 on his second last wave. The electric fast natural foot put the nail in the coffin, setting free a run of vertical lip blasts and razor sharp carves to land a heat high 9.33.

Final Scores: Dorrington (16.03), Wilson (14.84), Vasicek (14.57) and Gossmann (12.60).

Adding to the event’s already high stakes was the Toohey’s Extra Dry ‘Wave of the Weekend’. Dorrington continued to scoop the pool, notching the event’s highest individual wave score, an impressive 9.65 out of a possible 10, to surf away with four cartons of the clean crisp taste of Toohey’s Extra Dry.

The Billabong Queensland Open was the sixth and final stop of the 2008 Billabong Queensland Championship Circuit (QCC) presented by Printpoint, a six event - $30,000 series, which continues to set the benchmark for surfers aspiring towards a professional surfing career.

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Jake White/Scott Gillies

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