Pro Riders Earn Their 2014 Malibu WWA Pro Card at Freedom Wake Park
From Orlando, FL (April 14, 2014) – If you didn’t make it out to Freedom Wake Park this past Saturday for the first 2014 Malibu WWA Pro Card Qualifier then you definitely missed out. We had virtually perfect conditions, a massive WAKESETTER 22 MXZ wake and 25 riders looking to turn pro for the 2014 season. Riders like Massi Piffaretti (ITL), Jeff House (USA) and Bradley Teunissen (AUS) came out of the gates hot, looking to qualify for their 2014 Pro Card.
The format was simple. For starters, make sure that fun is in the forefront of everyone’s mind. Second, each rider advancing to the semifinals would earn their 2014 Malibu WWA Pro Card. Each judge would be making their decision based on the Overall Impression format that is currently the standard at all major Pro Men’s events.
In the qualifying rounds, it was game-on, right off of the dock. Heats of four to five took off and took the top three straight to semi finals. The last two riders in the qualifying rounds went to an eight-man last chance qualifier. The top two from the four-man LCQ heats moved on to the semifinals and qualified their 2014 WWA Pro Card. At this point, a total of nineteen Pro Cards were delivered at this epic event.
From there, serious heats started to stack up and the judges had their work cut out for them. These were four man heats with only the top rider making it to the finals. Stephen Pierce (USA) totally ripped it and linked a massive indy glide to fakie straight into a switch melon frontside 540 that would make Randall Harris turn his head; however, he would still finish second in the heat and miss the finals.
The finals consisted of an international list of riders including, Massi Piffaretti (ITL), David O’Caoimh (IRE), Tony Iacconi (AUS), Sam Carne (GBR) and Pierce Homsey (USA). In the end it was Sam Carne (GBR), David O’Caoimh (IRE) and Tony Iacconi (AUS) whom put together solid passes and finished first, second and third, respectively.
“I’m super happy to kick off the first event of the year by finishing as the top qualifier at the Pro Card.” British rider, Sam Carne said. “It was a super chill event and everyone was absolutely on fire. Conditions were perfect and it was great to catch up with all the guys at such a great event.”
The WWA would like to put out a huge thanks to everyone evolved with the event including: Malibu Boats, Ronix, CWB, Freedom Wake Park, Cobe Mikacich, Chad Sharpe, Brian Grubb, Oli Derome, Raph Derome, Tarah Mikacich, Amber Wing, Dallas Friday, Bryant Thomas, Gary Morrison, Kevco and Andrew Starling.
Stop over at WWAProCard.com for more information!
