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