South African Wakeboard Open

Milnerton, Cape Town – South Africa’s top Wakeboarders descended onto the waters of the Rietvlei for the 2010 O’Brien WaterSports South African Wakeboard Open in Collaboration with Fox. The two day all riders welcome event kicked off on Saturday morning with qualifying rounds for the Wakeskate, Boys, Junior Men, Ladies, Masters, Open Men and Pro Men divisions.

The Wakeskate, Open Men and Pro Men would see the riders riding heats and those fortunate to ride well enough would progress to the final. The Boys, Junior Men, Ladies and Masters Divisions all had around 8 entries; this was the minimum number of riders required for a Sunday final. These riders would ride and depending on their score would ride in the order from last placing on Saturday to first on Sunday final. Applying the pressure to the riders riding first and giving the riders riding last an advantage by them seeing as to what they need to do to win their respective division.

With 60 Wakeboarders competing and a Pro Men division of 13 Riders, the series of heats that would ultimately lead to the final would prove that the key would be consistency.  The cold weather and the dimming light on the Saturday evening did not make things any easier. The first two of the big names to fall in the difficult conditions would be Shaun Faccio and rookie sensation Dylan Mitchell. This was not the last we would see of these two riders it would merely mean that they would have to pull out all the stops in the LCQ’s if they wanted to make it to the finals.

The ladies division featured some new up and coming riders from Cape Town and defending South African Open Champion Gina Faccio.

The Wakeskate division had 11 shredders. All 11 would have to ride in a series of heats to progress to a 6 man final. The following top 4 riders came out on top and secured a place in the final, Moritz Gruter, Mattie Buys, Nick Burton-Moore and Chris Rodgers.

Sunday morning near perfect riding conditions greeted the qualifying Pro Men, Open Men and Wakeskate athletes as they gathered on the dock for an opportunity at a place in the final.

Mattie Buys who is currently one of our top ranked Wakeskaters would succumb to the pressure of being the only Gauteng rider to make the six man final. He would eventually only manage a 6th place in the final.  Dylan Mitchell-3rd, Moritz Gruter-2nd and Nick Burton Moore-1st all from Cape Town, demonstrating the depth of the Wakeskaters in Cape Town.

The Ladies final would have no surprises with the current Open Champion Gina Faccio demonstrating why she has been unbeaten for so long, it was also nice to see two up and coming Cape Town ladies Melisa Colborne and Candice Bacon making an impression on the division.

The Pro Men Division of 13 riders had now been reduced to 6 for the final.
Matt Lammers “Matt Hammers” the name that was given to him by the judges for his high level of riding over the weekend, really stepped it up in the final and laid down one of the sickest runs on the tour this year, and in turn was rewarded with the Overall Open Champion. Some big names had fallen, and out of it all was a relatively unknown 14 year old boy by the name of Ryan Durham, proving to everyone that maturity and consistency can bring a good result, unfortunately Ryan only managing a 6th in the final.  The rest of the results were as follows

Matt Lammers-1st, Clayton Krause-2nd, Shaun Faccio-3rd, Morgan Krause-4th, Devon Nassif-5th.

Matt Lammers

•    Whirly
•    Method 180
•    Back lip, Rail
•    Indy Tantrum to Blind
•    Switch 540
•    Roll to Blind
•    Nose Grab Back Roll
•    Nose Grab Pete Rose
•    Whirly 540
•    Back Lip, Rail.

Clayton Krause

•    Nose Grab Glide
•    Tootsie Roll
•    Back lip 180, Rail
•    Whirly
•    Toe Side 540
•    Moby Dick
•    Toe Side Indy 180
•    Half Cab Indy 180
•    Roll to Blind
•    Front Roll
•    Nose Grab 360
•    Front Side Board Slide to Back Side Board Slide 90 Out,Rail
•    Toe Side Off Axis 540

Shaun Faccio

•    Batwing.
•    Off Axis 360 Axis 540.
•    Whirly
•    Peat Rose
•    Stale Glide
•    Toe Side Back Side 180
•    Slim Chance.
•    Scare Crow
•    Toe Side Front Side Board Slide, Rail.
•    Back Side 360.

Thank you.

•    O’Brien WaterSports.
•    Mastercraft Boats.
•    Fox.
•    Milnerton Aquatic Club.
•    Red Bull.
•    Broderick Marine.
•    DVS.
•    Sport Unlimited.
•    Oakley.
•    SA Float
•    Boat Drivers Chris Lodge, Steve Rodgers.
•    Judges. Jono, Bryan Loggenberg.
•    Organizers, Mark Burton-Moore, Tich Mitchell