Young Guns Face Off for the First Time in Fort Worth; Friday Suffers Injury in Semifinals

Fort Worth, Texas – The action continued in Fort Worth today, as the top professional wakeboarders in the world hit the waters of Lake Moser at Texas MasterCraft for day two of the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour. Riders in the Pro Men and Jr. Pro Men divisions continued with their second rounds of action, while the Pro Women kicked off the competition with their semifinals.

In the Pro Men’s division, two of youngest standouts on Tour, Bob Soven, 18, and Harley Clifford, 16, faced off in the same heat for the first time on the Pro Tour, since competing on the amateur level in 2008.

“We used to compete in Juniors together, but competing on the Pro Tour is a whole other level riding,” said Soven. “The heats are stacked now and with a guy like Harley to worry about, you don’t know what’s going to happen; you just know that you can’t mess up.”

Clifford and Soven, who won the 2009 Pro Tour and Jr. Pro Tour, respectively, rode in the 10th and final heat of the day, placing in the top two of their four-man heat. Clifford won the heat with a score of 83.33, beating out Soven’s score of 73.33.

“Bob just kills out there and definitely keeps me on my toes,” said Clifford. “It could have gone either way today, but I just happen to come out on top.”

Both young guns will advance onto tomorrow’s quarterfinals, where they will be joined by 18 other pros. The Pro Men kick off tomorrow’s festivities at 12 noon.

With only one round to ride before their finals, all eyes were on the Pro Women’s division today to see which female standouts would make the cut.

The first heat of semifinalists saw the U.K.’s Nicola Butler, Aussie Amber Wing and Anna Hajek take the top three spots, respectively, in the six-woman heat.

The second heat, unfortunately, witnessed a scary moment on the water today, when wakeboarding icon Dallas Friday suffered what appeared to be a knee injury to her right leg upon landing the final trick of her run – a Tantrum to Blind. Friday was immediately taken to a local area hospital for medical care.

Despite her injury, Friday won her heat today, but will likely not participate in tomorrow’s finals. Hayley Smith and Raimi Merritt finished behind Friday, respectively to advance in the contest.

The Pro Women’s finals will take place at 6 p.m. as part of the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour’s new Main Event.

In the Jr. Pro Men’s division, 20 amateur rippers hit the water for their quarterfinal round, competing in five heats of four. Only the top two riders from each heat advanced, narrowing the field of riders down to 10 for tomorrow’s semifinals.

Among the 10 semifinalists is Kyle Evans, who posted a perfect score of 100 points during his quarterfinal run today. Current Tour leader Nick Galotifore also advanced past today’s quarterfinals, winning his heat with a score of 98.00.

The MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour will wrap up in Fort Worth tomorrow, Saturday, June 12, with ticketed event running from 12 noon to 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the gate for $10 (general admission), $5 (ages 6-12) or free (ages 5 and under).

In addition to all the action on the water; on land, there’s plenty of great food; athlete autograph signings; chances to win freebies; and shopping at the most cutting-edge stores for water-sports equipment including boats, wakeboards, wakeskates, sunglasses and the latest in wakeboarding and surfing fashions.

Be sure to pick up your share of $10,000 in free gift cards from Overton’s, the official water-sports retailer of the King of Wake series. Fans can also register to win a $500 Overton’s catalog shopping spree.

To catch all the high-flying, rail-sliding, water-sports action of the Fort Worth Pro Tour stop on television, tune in to FUEL TV on Aug. 10 at 8 p.m. EST.

The MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour is organized by World Sports & Marketing of Orlando, Fla., and has the support of the following sponsors: MasterCraft, Rockstar Energy Drink, Overton’s, Indmar, Peavey, Mona Vie, Billabong, Hyperlite, CWB, Ronix, Liquid Force, Byerly, Oakley, Sayiwon’t, Epiphone, WakeBoarding magazine, Fuel TV and Allisports.com.

About MasterCraft
MasterCraft is the exclusive tow boat for the Pro Wakeboard Tour, as it has been since the tour’s wakeboarding events began in 1992. Indmar Marine engines will provide the power for MasterCraft’s X Series line of competition tow boats.

About ROCKSTAR
ROCKSTAR is the world’s most powerful energy drink. Enhanced with the potent herbal blend of Guarana, Ginkgo, Ginseng and Milk Thistle, ROCKSTAR is formulated to provide an incredible energy boost for those who lead active and exhausting lifestyles – from athletes to rock stars. ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK is available in thirteen amazing flavors: Original, Sugar Free, Zero Carb, Juiced Mango Orange Passion Fruit, Juiced Guava, Juiced Pomegranate, Tropical Punched, Punched Citrus, Roasted Mocha, Roasted Latte, Roasted Light Vanilla, Cola, and Recovery. ROCKSTAR ENERGY SHOTS are available in Wild Berry and Tropical Punch flavors. ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK is available at convenience and grocery retail outlets across the United States, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Spain, The Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, and throughout the United Kingdom.

About FUEL TV
FUEL TV is the action sports lifestyle network for skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, BMX, motocross, and wakeboarding. Through its original and commissioned series and specials, short-form content, films, and prestigious event coverage, the channel features action sports athletes, emerging musicians, celebrities, and breaking news. FUEL TV was launched July 1, 2003 and is seen in more than 30 million U.S. homes. FUEL TV has networks in Australia (FUEL TV Australia) and Portugal (FUEL TV Portugal) and its content is viewed in more than 50 countries around the world.

About King of Wake
The King of Wake is the world’s elite pro wakeboarding series, attracting the sport’s top athletes from throughout the globe. Over the course of a season, athletes compete for the ultimate wakeboarding crown in a series points race of eight events throughout the United States to see who rules the wake. The 2010 series consists of the Wake Games, the WWA Wakeboard National Championships, the WWA Wakeboard World Championships and all five stops on the Pro Wakeboard Tour. The King of Wake is organized by World Sports & Marketing – the leading wake-events producer since 1988.

Friday, June 11 – Day 2 Results:

Pro Men
Round of 40: Heat #1
1.  Chad Sharpe             70.00
2. Jeff Mckee                 60.00
3. Aaron Rathy               NS
4. Eric Deegan                NS

Pro Men
Round of 40: Heat #2
1. Jimmy LaRiche         81.67
2. Danny Thollander     66.67
3. Steven Cahail             53.33
4. Joey Bradley               43.33

Pro Men
Round of 40: Heat #3
1. Josh Palma                 83.33
2. Danny Harf                 76.67
3. Zane Schwenk            70.00
4. Kirby Liesmann          56.67

Pro Men
Round of 40: Heat #4
1. Trevor Hansen           68.33
2. Eric Ruck                   61.67
3. Danny Burnstein       53.33
4. Jimmy Trask                41.67

Pro Men
Round of 40: Heat #5
1. Andrew Adkison       76.67
2. Shaun Murray           66.67
3. Phillip Aslinger          60.00
4. Tony Carroll               51.67

Pro Men
Round of 40: Heat #6
1. Nick Jones                 68.33
2. Shawn Watson           56.67
3. Adam Errington         50.00
4. Jason Bannatyne       43.33

Pro Men
Round of 40: Heat #7
1. Kyle Rattray               71.67
2. Austin Hair                70.00
3. AJ Racinelli                 58.33
4. Nick Weinacker          41.67

Pro Men
Round of 40: Heat #8
1. Phillip Soven              78.33
2. Olivier Derome         71.67
3. Keith Lyman               60.00
4. Tom Fooshee             53.33

Pro Men
Round of 40: Heat #9
1. Rusty Malinoski       80.00
2. Bryan Hutton             71.67
3. Sam Thomson            56.67
4. Alex Scagliotti            45.00

Pro Men
Round of 40: Heat #10
1. Harley Clifford          83.33
2. Bob Soven                   73.33
3. Dean Smith                 66.67
4. Paul Hernaez               43.33

Pro Women
Semifinals: Heat #1
1. Nicola Butler             81.67
2. Amber Wing              75.00
3. Anna Hajek                68.33
4. Meagan Ethell            58.33
5. Barrett Perlman           50.00
6. Melissa Marquardt    35.00

Pro Women
Semifinals: Heat #1
1. Dallas Friday             76.67
2. Hayley Smith             68.33
3. Raimi Merritt            60.00
4. Raequel Hoffman       36.67
5. Shawna Hoffman       26.67
6. Emylee Wright           21.00
7. Corrie Dyer                 16.67

Jr. Pro Men
Quarterfinals: Heat #1
1. Jarrod Askew            95.25
2. Ryleigh Pfitzner       88.50
3. Julian Cohen               83.50
4. Clay Fraley                  72.75

Jr. Pro Men
Quarterfinals: Heat #2
1. Steele Lafferty          90.00
2. John Jeffries             87.25
3. Keenan Allan             85.50
4. Gunnar Shuler            77.25

Jr. Pro Men
Quarterfinals: Heat #3
1. Josh Twelker            96.00
2. Pierce Homsey          85.75
3. Rafael Derome            76.25
4. Bennett Spartz            71.50

Jr. Pro Men
Quarterfinals: Heat #4
1. Kyle Evans                  100.00
2. Freddie Wayne          90.00
3. Gus Shuler                  75.75
4. Hunter Stich               50.00

Jr. Pro Men
Quarterfinals: Heat #5
1. Nick Galotifore         98.00
2. Dan Powers                92.00
3. JB O’Neill                    62.00
4. Aaron Brown              53.00