06: Mexico

With the wind coming up slightly for the final of the fifth event on the Foster’s ASP Men’s World Tour, the focus shifted to big turns rather than big barrels for the final and Irons stepped up to the task.

After a slow start for waves the two competitors were sitting for a while before a set pushed through.

Taylor Knox struck the first blow with a series of searing turns and locked in an 8.0. Irons struck back with a massive air, which saw him launch approximately three feet off the top of the wave. From there on it was all Irons as he went to town on another solid wave to score a 7.93 and seal the win.

Right from round one Irons was showing the form that has earned him three world titles.

“I feel great!” said Irons after the win. “Just being in the final is amazing. I make a point of trying to make a few finals a year and to actually get a win is even better. Taylor is a good friend of mine, it’s a great wave and we’ve had such a good time here this week so this is a perfect ending. I couldn’t have written it any better.”

Knox was full of praise for his finals counterpart but felt he may have been able to perform a little better if his equipment was up to the task and he hadn’t given Irons a wave in the heat that he should have rode.

"Andy surfed really well and he actually surfed really well all week," said Knox. "I felt like I could have won as well, but I gave him a good wave. I rode a broken board in every heat and since they are broken they are a little a heavier than I would have liked, so I was just lucky to get to this point."

Finishing in equal third place was Tim Reyes (USA) and Taj Burrow (AUS) who narrowly went down to Knox in an extremely close affair.

With the lead swapping and changing throughout the semi, Taj threw everything he could into his waves but failed to link together enough turns on sufficient waves to close the door on Knox, plus he fell on what was probably the best wave of the heat.

Kelly Slater was defeated by Knox in the quarter-finals.

"I have always thought that the tour needed something like this," said Slater. "This event has been great. This is one of the best waves in the world and the whole thing was great for surfing and great for the tour."

FINAL RESULTS: Andy Irons (HAW) 16.86 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 11.33

SEMIFINAL ONE: Taylor Knox (USA) 15.00 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.50
SEMIFINAL TWO: Andy Irons (HAW) 17.20 def. Timmy Reyes (USA) 11.33

QUARTERFINAL ONE: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.17 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.83
QUARTERFINAL TWO: Taylor Knox (USA) 15.50 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 11.67
QUARTERFINAL THREE: Andy Irons (HAW) 18.10 def. Bruce Irons (HAW) 8.00
QUARTERFINAL FOUR: Timmy Reyes (USA) 12.53 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 11.33