Tonga's Michael Burling (22) had a convincing win in the Hyundai Longboard Pro competition, which was held 13-14 May at Makarori Beach in Gisborne. Surf for the two-day event was ideal with swell in the 11.5 metre range, clear sunny weather and light offshore winds grooming the waves to perfection.

Michael surfed brilliantly throughout the event winning all the four-man heats he contested from preliminary rounds through the quarter and semi finals. Michael's superiority was even more apparent when, with just five minutes remaining in the final, he caught a long reeling wave that he tore apart with huge top turns, floaters and a long tube ride that the judges rewarded with a near perfect score of 9.75 out of a possible 10 points. The beach erupted as the large crowd of spectators jumped to their feet cheering after witnessing Michael...’s final ride.

"That last wave seemed like a gift from God" explained Michael, "and it just kept peeling off perfectly, which allowed me to really do some big turns. The last section just bowled and allowed me to pull into the tube. I was so deep I didn...’t think I would make it but it finally opened for me and when I came out I could hear the crowd cheering and knew it would be a good score".

The judges announced that Michael had "combo'd" all three competitors meaning that when points for each surfers best two rides were added for a final score, even if they could catch a perfect ride and score a perfect 10 to replace one of their scoring rides, they would still need to catch another high scoring wave to catch Michael.

Current New Zealand longboard champion Michael Fitzharris and former New Zealand champion Kelly Ryan who both live in Gisborne were eliminated early in the competition as they fell victim to Michael's explosive surfing."Kelly and Michael are two of New Zealand's best surfers and they had the hometown advantage so it was especially satisfying to beat them on home turf," said Michael.

The 2006 Hyundai Longboard competition circuit consisted of six events, which began in January 2006 and were held over five months at New Zealand's best surfing locations. Michael, who is now in his final year at Auckland University School of Medicine, was unable to attend the first two competitions due to his training program locating him at Vaiola Hospital in Tonga for most of last summer. His win last weekend has put him into the top 10 of the final rankings.

He hopes to compete at all six events in 2007.