Banting wasn't even sure if he would make his first heat in time, but everything fell into place from there.

The natural-footer posted a decent 15.27 two-wave heat total in the final to overcome Gold Coast's Sheldon Simkus and avenge his final loss at the 2019 event.

"I felt like I was in sync with everything and made a lot better decisions than the ones I made throughout last year and I learned from that," Banting said.

"The waves came when I needed them to and I performed on them."

Banting dropped a few mid-eight scores in his quarter-final heat before he backed it up with some impressive high seven's in the final.

It is that sort of luck with wave selection that has so far conspired against Banting in his quest to re-qualify for the world tour.

"Last year I missed out by about 1300 points (to qualify) so that would have been the difference between something like a quarter-final finish or a fifth," he said.

Banting will now head to Newcastle Surfest hoping to back up the result and put himself into a prime position to re-qualify for the WSL Championship Tour.

After Newcastle, he will then head to the Sydney Pro at Manly where the stakes will be even higher.

This year, that event will be worth 10,000 points instead of the 6000 of previous years.

"They have put another couple of 10,000-point events on the schedule this year so there are eight instead of six," Banting said.

Manly will be one of those.

"That means there are a few more points and prizemoney up for grabs."

To qualify for the world tour, each surfer's best five results throughout the year are recorded and when Banting qualified for the World Tour in 2014 he amassed more than 20,000 points.

A strong start to the season in Australia will provide the points kick-start he desperately needs before he starts to travel the world for competitions.

"Performing well around here (in Australia) helps with your confidence and means you're not playing catch-up when you have to do all that travel throughout the year," he said.

While many challenges have been put in front of him over the last couple of years, Banting's motivation hasn't wavered.

"I've picked up a few sponsors, I'm making some money and I'm doing what I love, so while I'm doing that it's never anything I'd turn away from," he said.

"I still want to qualify for the world tour for 2021, do well in the QS and be consistent."

Banting will hit the water at Merewether Beach on Tuesday or Wednesday before he heads to the Quiksilver Pro trials at Snapper Rocks a few weeks later aiming to earn a spot in the main event.

"It's the first stop on the WSL," he said.

"They have been pretty consistent stomping grounds for me."

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