AUSSIE surf hero Mick Fanning took out the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach championship ahead of mate Taj Burrow in a nerve-wracking final at Winkipop on Wednesday.
The triple world champion — and now triple Bells winner — took out the title with a score of 16.83 from rides of 8.83 and 8.00, ahead of Burrow’s 13.46 including a mighty 9.63.
A desperate paddle battle for priority just minutes from the siren saw Fanning holding the ascendancy but with Burrow looking anxiously for a 7.20 ride the pressure kicked in and the pair fluffed their final waves.
With the seconds ticking away, Fanning bided his time and priority as Burrow chased but failed to capitalise on his final waves.
Fanning said he was overwhelmed to join ranks with triple Bells greats including Michael Peterson, Sunny Garcia and Joel Parkinson, and described the last nine minutes of his battle with Burrow as nerve-wracking.
“It feels amazing,” Fanning said of his win before the biggest crowds he said he’d ever seen at Bells.
“It was a tough final. Taj went crazy on that one and I was so nervous the last nine minutes and made a few mistakes.”
Fanning said he “tried to do the old Thorpedo and get the legs kicking” during the paddle fight.
Fanning said the third-round world title win released the “pressure a little bit” after a less-than-inspiring performance at Margaret River .
“After a kick up the bum at Margie’s it was a good time to reset, I put a lot of hard work in for this event and it paid off.”
Hawaii’s Carissa Moore took out the women’s event at Bell’s ahead of Tyler Wright in a back-to-back win she described as a great start to the world title season.
