Showing no signs of nerves in the 25-minute final, Ziems opened his campaign quickly, jagging a set wave before laying down a series of critical forehand maneouvres to net a high scoring 8.25 on his first wave.

The lanky 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 8.50. "I'm so happy with how I surfed today," said Ziems.

"The waves really improved throughout the day and I managed to get the better waves in the final. I couldn't think of a better way to finish the year with the top four title contenders in the final."

As an added sweetener, Ziems surfed away with a wildcard into the trials of the World Tour event at Snapper Rocks in '08 by finishing runner-up in this year's circuit.

Final Scores: Ziems (16.75), Tripcony (15.15), Jones (13.05) and Reardon-Smith (13.00)

Adding to the event's already high stakes was the Toohey's Extra Dry 'Wave of the Weekend'. North Stradbroke Island surfer Lincoln Taylor notched the event's highest individual wave score, an impressive 9.25 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 is the sixth and final stop of the 2007 Billabong Queensland Championship Circuit (QCC), a six event - $30,000 series, that continues to set the benchmark for surfers aspiring towards a professional surfing career.