Keith Lidberg dominates Red Bull Wake The Line
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Keith Lidberg (USA) dominates Red Bull Wake The Line
The season opening for European Wakeboarding couldn’t have been better. At Red Bull Wake The Line more than 7000 spectators saw incredible Wakeboard action on a new level performed by top riders from all over the world. The obstacle setup built by UNIT Parktech including a massive quarterpipe at the end of the run offered space for tricks never seen before in wakeboarding. Towed by Sesitec’s system 2.0 the four pools in the stadionbad of Cologne made a total of 320meters of wake heaven. In the superfinal Keith Lidberg showed the best performance, winning ahead of Germany’s Bernhard Hinterberger and Shawn Watson (USA). In the wakeskate divison of Red Bull Wake The Line Jan Kissmann from Germany got first place.
Jan Kissmann had to make his way through the Warm-up session in Langenfeld, where he got his wildcard. With his technical skills on the rails and massive spin tricks at the kicker showing late backside 180 and a frontside 540 he was clearly the winner. Second place went to Leo Labadens from France and last years winner Andy Kolb came third. The winner of the Nike 6.0 best trick award was Kevin Calvez (FRA).
The rider lineup in the Wakeboard division of Red Bull Wake The Line included Europe’s biggest names like Bernhard Hinterberger (GER), Christian Koester (UK), David Vervenne (BEL) or Laurent Perychou (FRA) – completed by Parks Bonifay, Keith Lidberg, Shawn Watson and Collin Harrington all from the US. In the first duel at the head to head semi finals Parks Bonifay had to ride against Bernhard Hinterberger. Both showed incredible runs with many similar tricks, including a 450 transfer to the A-Frame and nice quarterpipe action. With his crow mobe 5 over the last kicker Bernhard overruled Park’s Whirlybird and made his way to the super finals. There he met up with Collin Harrington, Keith Lidberg and Shawn Watson. The 20minutes jam session was dominated by Keith Lidberg, showing all his technical rail skills like big transfers, backside lipslides and tons of style in his kicker tricks. Last years second place Bernhard Hinterberger repeated his place ahead of Shawn Watson, who won the best trick in the quarterpipe.
The second edition of Red Bull Wake The Line has shown urban wakeboarding on a new level and opened doors for new tricks. Above all the quarterpipe in combination with system 2.0 was a brand new element in wakeboarding offering tons of possibilities.
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