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Yaroomba
surfer (Sunshine Coast, Qld, Aus) Dave Reardon-Smith has emphatically clinched
the overall 2006 Billabong Queensland Championship Circuit (QCC) title at the
Billabong North Shore Classic, held on the Sunshine Coast. 
Well ahead of the rest of the world-class field on 3280-points
coming into the event, Reardon-Smith’s runner-up placing behind eventual
winner Shane Bevan (Kingcliff) has seen him secure not only a wildcard into the
trials of the Billabong Pro Tahiti 2007, but a second wildcard into the World
Championship Tour (WCT) event at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast in early March,
2007. Two wins, a second and a fourth placing in the
opening five events of the six-round series gives the 28-year-old Reardon-Smith
an unassailable 3530 rating points going into the Billabong Queensland Open, the
sixth and final event of this year’s circuit. 
Needing only to place higher than fellow title contenders
Matt Hoar (Currumbin), Trevor Tripcony (Coolum) and Corey Ziems (Currumbin Alley)
to grab the title, Reardon-Smith put the nail-in-the-coffin, eliminating Ziems
in their semi-final face-off. Reardon-Smith’s
electrifying 8.25 ride in the dying moments of their gripping semi-final that
included an amazing backside 360’ aerial reverse, relegated reigning Billabong
North Shore Classic champion and ’06 QCC title contender Ziems to equal 5th
place and in so doing crushing his hopes of securing this year’s overall
title. 
“I’m stoked to be coming away with the title. I
knew I had to just get past Corey in the semi’s and I would clinch it,”
explained a pleased Reardon-Smith. “ My contract
is up with Cult next week, so this is definitely going to help,” added Reardon-Smith.
Not to be totally outdone, Kingscliff’s Shane
Bevan survived a tense final to secure his first QCC win for 2006. 
In what was an action-packed final, Reardon-Smith led for
the majority, posting an impressive wave total of 13.5 points (6 & 7.5).
Leaving his best for last, Bevan upstaged Reardon-Smith by
scoring a 7.75 ride (13.75 total) in the dying moments of the 25-minute final
to secure a narrow win. Mermaid beach’s Scott
Wildin and Coolangatta’s Damon Harvey finished third and fourth respectively.
In the heat of the event, Reardon-Smith survived a
nail biting battle against Wildin, Chris Friend (Alexandra headland) and Shaun
Stevic (Sunrise beach) to narrowly progress to today’s final rounds.
Amidst the final 2-minutes of the tightly fought heat, both
Friend and Reardon-Smith were caught up in an interference situation.
Luckily for Reardon-Smith, Friend was deemed to have hindered
his scoring potential, resulting in his second scoring ride being halved and allowing
Reardon-Smith to scrape through to the next round along with eventual heat winner
Wildin. ’06 title-hope Matt Hoar (Currumbin,
formerly Dalmeny – NSW), couldn’t reproduce his red-hot form of the
past two QCC’s, unfortunately eliminated by an in-form Scott Wildin (Mermaid
beach) and Darren Scott (Palm beach) in the round of 48. Hoar’s
third placing subsequently put an end to his ’06 QCC title aspirations.
Similarly, Coolum’s Trevor Tripcony couldn’t capitalize
on his impressive results in this year’s circuit, knocked out by Damon Harvey
(Coolangatta) and Wade Goodall in the round of 32 and thereby shattering his slim
hopes of claiming the ’06 QCC title. Explosive
surfing by Caloundra’s aerial-king and Billabong wildcard Wade Goodall and
local Maroochydore stalwart Matt Clarke in today’s early rounds couldn’t
prevent Luke Jory (Noosa) from claiming the Toohey’ Extra Dry ‘Wave
of the weekend’ prize for an amazing 9-point ride. | 
