The forth stop of the 2011 ASP World Tour at Supertubes, Jeffreys Bay, saw South African surfer Jordy Smith clinch his second consecutive Billabong Pro J-Bay title when he beat Mick Fanning (AUS) in a tense final.
(Photo by ASP/ SCHOLTZ)
The last day of the event also saw testing 1.5 metre waves and strong onshore winds, but Smith looked in championship winning form ever since posting the highest scores of Round 1 last Friday, and made full use of his experience at Jeffreys Bay, employing his exciting arsenal of progressive and aerial manoeuvres to rack up rides of 8.60 and 7.0 for a heat-winning total of 15.60 out of 20 in the final.
Smith powered his way to convincing victories over Damien Hobgood (USA) in the quarterfinals and Adrian Buchan (AUS) in his semi-final match-up.
The 23-year-old Durbanite who now lives in Cape Town won $75, 000 for the victory and earned 10, 000 valuable rankings points, moving him from fifth to second on the ASP World Title Race rankings behind Joel Parkinson (AUS), overtaking Adriano de Souza (BRA), Kelly Slater (USA) and Taj Burrow (AUS) in the process.
(Photo by Karen/ Billabong)
Smith also collected the Nixon WTA award of a custom built Nixon watch valued at $10, 000 for scoring the highest heat total at the event of 18.30 out of 20 in his Round 5 win over Bede Durbidge (AUS).
Fanning (who claimed the Billabong Pro J-Bay in 2002 and 2006) led the final with an excellent 8.0 point ride early on, but could not produce the 7.61 point ride he needed to overtake Smith after he took the lead with a “double-grab” aerial, with 12 minutes remaining.
The 2011 Billabong Pro J-Bay will make the history books for Smith’s second consecutive win and the phenomenal standard of surfing on the penultimate day when a perfect 10 point ride and a number of other high-flying moves were performed and recorded at Supertubes in Jeffreys Bay.
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