BURLEIGH HEADS, Queensland/Australia (Sunday, February 21, 2010) - Taj Burrow today etched his name into the history books, claiming the inaugral 2010 ASP World Qualifying Series 4-Star, Breaka Burleigh Pro. Burrow defeated Josh Kerr, Owen Wright and Dusty Payne who finished second to fourth respectively in an exhilarating four-man Final.

Burrow exploded out of the gates with a blistering 9.10, going on to register a combined two-wave total of 17.30 to Kerr's 15.67, Wright's 14.60 and Payne's 8.73. "It's so great to be back at Burleigh Heads. I've spent a lot of time here over the years and it's such a great wave, so to be able to win the very first competition here in so long is just great", Burrow said. "The whole event has been epic, the waves were great and it was some of the most high performance surfing I've seen, there was so many aerials and all the competitors were just going so big, it was awesome to be a part of," he said. Burrow thrilled thousands of spectators lining Burleigh Heads in what is the first professional surfing event to be staged at the iconic break in almost 10 years. In a dream preparation, Burrow who also won last year's ASP World Tour season ending Pipeline Masters, will now head into next week's first ASP World Tour event of 2010 at Snapper Rocks as one of the hot favorites. "This is the ideal start to the season for me and I feel more ready than ever for the season ahead." Huge crowds flooded Burleigh Heads to watch the world's best surfers on the event's final day, with spectators and organisers likening the occasion to the iconic Stubbies events of the 1970's. Results - Day 5 Final 1. Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.30 2. Josh Kerr (AUS) 15.67 3. Owen Wright (AUS) 14.60 4. Dusty Payne (AUS) 8.73 Semifinal 1: 1. Owen Wright (AUS) 19.77 2. Josh Kerr (AUS) 15.76 3. James Wood (AUS) 15.20 4. Brent Dorrington (AUS) 13.00 Semifinal 2: 1. Dusty Payne (HAW) 16.50 2. Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.30 3. Granger Larson (HAW) 11.00 4. Jay Thompson (AUS) 10.67