Wake the Line Qualifiers #1: Penrith

 

Penrith/Australia, March 3rd 2013 – The qualifier event is part of the entire “O’Neill Wake The Line” concept of creating the best rail event in the world and spreading their net far and wide to attract and reward the most talented rail riders on the planet. On Sunday March 3rd a number of established international stars stood up to the plate with the young local rookies from Australia to see who was good enough to win a position in the starting line-up, and an all expenses paid trip, for the main event in Germany on May 24/25.

All riders received 2 attempts at the course, each of which consisted of just one lap and a single hit on the rail, kicker and quarter pipe. The riders were judges under the strict “O’Neill Wake The Line” criteria that awarded control, consistency, and creativity. After an initial series of heats the field was reduced to 8 riders for a semi final that featured 3 internationals – Daniel Grant, Oli Derome, Brad Smeele – and 5 Australian riders – Mitch Langfield, Aaron Gunn, James Windsor, Jamie Neville and Chris OShea. Referred to as the best standard yet seen in any Qualifier event the judges struggled to decide on the top 4 names for the final round.

After a long deliberation, and a tie for 4th place it was decided to take 5 riders into the final round from which only 3 would emerge with tickets to Germany. The top five riders – Mitch Langfield, Aaron Gunn, James Windsor, Oli Derome and Chris O’Shea again received 2 passes at the course with only the single best counting for their final score

 

Mitch Langfiled is back and hungry for W’s…

 

Oli Derome went down twice on his double back roll. James Windsor looked promising and stomped 2 clean runs in the final but didn’t manage to surpass what the other boys had brought to the table. Chris O’Shea had his double cab rolls on lock and with some solid rails and quarter pipe hits was enough to pip Windsor for the third spot. Mitch Langfield, always a stand out on the rails, had two great runs in the final and his aired out tail grabbed three’s in the quarter pipe were also a crowd pleaser.

In the end the “O’Neill Wake The Line” concept was reinforced when a 17 year old local rider from Penrith Cable took the top spot with super clean riding all across the course and boosting with enormous height out of the quarter pipe. Aaron Gunn continually left the crowd stunned and cheering and rightly earned his spot on top of the “O’Neill Wake The Line” Qualifier podium.

For further information: http://www.waketheline.com/blog/qualification/

Press contact: Johannes Degenhardt / jd@unit-parktech.com