JACKSON Baker has defeated Jordy Smith to push deeper into the Bells Beach Pro and pick up vital points ahead of a looming cut in the Championship Tour field.
The Merewether surfer, who only lost to Smith two contests ago, needed just three waves to beat the South African at Victoria's famous break on Thursday morning.
Baker scored 6.93 on his first wave to be in a strong position early in the 35-minute heat and then added a 7.67 on his third with seven minutes left to surf from a ride that included a couple of big carving turns.
Smith could only manage scores in the 5-6 point range and finished with a best two-waves total of 10.90 compared to Baker's 14.60.
There were some heart-stopping moments in the closing stages when the two surfers got mixed up in the water, a situation that could have resulted in Baker being penalised if the judges deemed he had obstructed Smith, who had priority for the wave.
Then Baker let Smith take a wave with only seconds remaining despite himself holding priority.
Smith was unlikely to achieve the required score of at least 9.10 needed to overtake Baker, but it was a moment the tour rookie said he would learn from.
"That was scary," Baker said.
"But I come out with the win.
"I probably shouldn't have let him have that wave at the end there, but I guess that's just rookie stuff.
"Coming in from a heat-win with things to learn is a great thing.
"So I'll take that on board and I'll learn from it."
