After the competition in Belgrad last weekend I am now at the 4th Place at the Cable Wakeboard Worldcup Overall Ranking!
Video from Belgrad is already online!
www.fetzysworld.com
Next destinations, are Finnland for the Cable Europeans and Portugal for the Boat Europeans!
Keep you posted
Fetzy
pic from today’s gyrocopter shoot
Our friends from Triple 8 Helmets are featured in the new American Express small business campaign, so stoked for these guys! Check it out!
Be sure to head over to WBM’s 2009 Read Poll to vote for your favorite LF riders! Whether you love Watson’s style, Shane’s rail riding, or Bob Soven’s breakdance moves, make sure you let the people know! These guys work hard all year, so let’s help them win and celebrate a bit!
www.wakeboardingmag.com/article/Features/Readers-Poll-2009
This Week on The Weekly Update with Boost Mobile: In wakeboarding news, Aaron Rathy wins another on the Mastercraft Pro Wakeboard Tour as Danny Harf takes top honors at the Liquid Force Brostock Festival.
In skate, Torey Pudwill beats out Eric Koston in the street final at the Copenhagen Pro presented by DVS. Also, Nike SB’s amateur team drops the Debacle video, and X Games celebrates its fifteenth anniversary in downtown Los Angeles.
In our surf coverage, Blake Thornton dominates picture-perfect barrels at the O’Neill Coldwater Classic South Africa, Kolohe Andino takes the title at the NSSA Nationals, and Billabong’s Design for Humanity catwalks the latest fashion in Hollywood.
To watch The Weekly Update with Boost Mobile on Fox Sports Net, check your local FSN dates and show times at: http://msn.foxsports.com. To watch the show on FUEL TV, visit www.fuel.tv for times.
Elizabethtown, Ky. – The top pro wakeboarders from throughout the globe hit the waters of Freeman Lake Park today for the final rounds of action at the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour stop in Elizabethtown, Ky. Riders competed through a series of elimination rounds today, vying for a huge cash purse and points toward the tour standings.
The pros were first off the dock this morning for their quarterfinal round, where 20 riders battled it out on the water in five heats of four for spot in the semifinals. The competition was soon cut in half, as only the top two riders from each heat advanced, setting up the ten-man semifinal.
In the semifinals, all ten pros were looking to make an impact on the water to earn one of four spots in the final round. Riders didn’t hold anything back in the semis, especially rookie phenom Harley Clifford, who laid down an impressive run featuring 17 different tricks. With that run, Clifford won his heat to advance on to the finals, along with defending Pro Tour champ Phillip Soven, current Pro Tour points-leader Aaron Rathy and former Australian Pro Tour champ Dean Smith.
All four finalists went for broke to win the contest, including Aaron Rathy, who attempted a 1080, but was unable to stick the landing. Rathy’s run earned him a third-place finish, with Phillip Soven taking the win and young gun Harley Clifford finishing in second.
“I’m happy with the way I rode today and it feels really good to come out with a win after not being on the podium for a while,” said Soven. “A win is always a good way to go in the next the stop, so now I’m really looking forward to Reno.”
Although Dean Smith finished the finals in fourth place, he didn’t ride away empty handed, as former Australian Pro Tour champ claimed the ROCKSTAR Best Trick Award for his Nose Grab Crow 540 off of the U.S. Air Force kicker. The Award is a $1,000 cash prize.
With the Elizabethtown tour stop in the books, rookie Harley Clifford now takes the lead in the standings over the previous points-leader Aaron Rathy, who now sits in second.
In the Jr. Pro Men division, ten amateur rippers battled it out on the water today in the semifinal round, competing in two heats of five for a spot in the finals. Only the top two riders from each heat advanced past the semifinal round, sending Steel Lafferty, Bob Soven, Daniel Powers and Aussie Mitch Langfield to the Jr. Pro Men finals.
All four finalists threw down some serious runs in last round of action, but ultimately top-seed Bob Soven came out on top, with Langfield and Powers rounding out the contest podium, respectively. Today’s win marks Soven’s fourth of the season, increasing his chances of sweeping the five-stop tour, when it wraps-up in Sparks/Reno, Nev. in August. Should Soven win in Nevada, he will become the first rider in the Jr. Pro Men division ever to sweep the tour.
“I’m stoked, I just took my fourth straight win of the season and I couldn’t be happier with the way I rode today,” said Soven. “Its cool that my brother and I both won and hopefully we can do it again in Reno.”
Following Elizabethtown, the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour will now head to Sparks/Reno, Nev., August 14-16, for the fifth and final stop of the season. Additional venues for the 2009 Pro Tour, includes Fort Worth, Tex., Pleasant Prairie, Wis. and Knoxville, Tenn.
For results, standings, photos, videos, athlete bios and more, please visit www.allisports.com.
LF rookie Harley Clifford is currently tied for the top spot on the Men’s Pro Wakeboard Tour with one event to go! 2008 Pro Tour Champ Phillip Soven is holding down the #3 spot, after winning this past weekends event in KY. Don’t ever count Phil out!
Men (after 4 of 5 events)
1. Harley Clifford – 370
2. Aaron Rathy – 370
3. Phillip Soven – 315
4. Andrew Adkison – 295
5. Rusty Malinoski – 251
6. Olivier Derome – 221
7. Jimmy LaRiche – 214
8. Trevor Hansen – 207
9. Dean Smith – 201
10. Danny Harf – 182
Bob Soven has cleaned house this season, literally. He’s won 4 of 4 events, and looking for the clean sweep in Reno next month. Liquid Force has the strongest grom team in the world, as we’ve locked in 4 of the top 5 spots.
Jr Men (after 4 of 5 events)
1. Robert Soven – 400
2. Mitch Langfield – 350
3. Phillip Aslinger – 305
4. Steel Lafferty – 300
5. Daniel Powers – 290
6. Jarrod Askew – 248
7. Johnny Tobaben – 188
8. Danny Burnstein – 186
9. Jacob Valdez – 183
10. Nick Galotifore – 168
Amber is sitting in 2nd place after the first event, look for big things from her in Reno next month!
Women (after 1 of 2 events)
1. Nicola Butler – 100
2. Amber Wing – 90
3. Dallas Friday – 80
4. Raimi Merritt – 75
5. Meagan Ethell – 70
6. Raequel Hoffman – 65
7. Melissa Marquardt – 60
8. Shawna Hoffman – 60
9. Ashley Leugner – 60
10. Hayley Smith – 47
FASL Wake Event 4, Louisville – $1,000 Cash and Great Prizes to be given away
FASL Wake Event 4 starts in less than 48 hours. Get your Teams locked in now.
Team “BONG” wins $1,000 in the Jbay FASL Surf Event Game
Team “BONG” won the Jbay FASL Surf Event Game and a cool $1,000 cash with a score of 354.49 points.
Team “Wakeks” still leading the Liquid Force Board Giveaway
“Wakeks” is still leading the Liquid Force Board Giveaway with a score of 2338.75 points. With 2 Events left to go, will someone step up and take the LF board away from “Wakeks”?
“THERISINGTIDE (PS)” Holds onto the lead for the …Lost Surfboard Giveaway
“THERISINGTIDE (PS)” posted a 414.90 score for The Quiksilver Pro in the Premium Season Team standings and is still leading the …Lost Surfboard Giveaway. 5 more Events to go means 5 more chances to win the …Lost surfboard.
NEW FEATURE – See Teams on Leaderboards during Events
Once an Event is running and trading is locked Log-In and go to the Leaderboards page. Once there, simply scroll over the Teams and a pop up will show you the Team.
Refer a Friend
Get your friend to sign up for a Premium Game and you get a Free entry into a Premium Event Game yourself. You’ll also be in the running for 1 of 5 Xcel wetsuits that will be given away to the Users that get the most friends to sign up.
QuickTip
It may be helpful to look through the draw of an Event prior to finalizing your Team. Look for “easy” heats and also check to make sure that you don’t have Team members squaring off against each other in early Rounds.
They don’t call him “Arms of Steel” Lafferty for nothing. A student of Glen Fletcher’s O’Town Water Sports, Steel is one of the most explosive riders in the Jr. Pro Men circuit. He combines huge air with technical proficiency, in the process making each trick his own. WakeGirls spent some time with Mr. Lafferty at O’Town, where we were treated to his incredible riding and goofball antics. Make sure you check out our photos and video of July’s Guy of the Month.
WakeGirls: Where are you from?
Steel: I am from a super hero organization called SHO that trains super heros like myself to one day save the world. Haha, not really, I’m from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
WG: Who do you usually ride with and where?
Steel: I usually go train with my coach Glen Fletcher at O’Town in Orlando.
WG: Who influences your riding style?
Steel: I for sure think that watching and riding with people like [Shawn] Watson and Shane Bonifay, who are known for their style, really influences my style.
WG: How did you get started in wakeboarding?
Steel: My dad brought home a wakeboard from Sports Authority one day and the first time I got up it just clicked!
WG: You’re a professional wakeboarder and a student in high school. How do you manage doing both?
Steel: I would definitely have to give all that credit to my Momma. She spends hours on the phone and on the computer working out my school schedule and my wakeboarding schedule. Without her I don’t know how I could manage both.
WG: What is the best thing wakeboarding has done for you, so far?
Steel: Wakeboarding has really given me a lot of publicity but the best thing wakeboarding has given me is a second family. The wake community is a big competitive loving family and I am stoked to be a part of it.
WG: What is your favorite snack food?
Steel: I don’t think I could narrow it down to one. I am a very active 17 year old young lad that could survive on snack food if it wouldn’t kill me.
WG: What are the top songs on your iPod right now?
Steel: “Our Song” by Taylor Swift, “Daylight”, “I Run”, and then all Michael Jackson. You gotta pay tribute to the King of Pop.
WG: When you have free time, apart from school and wakeboarding, what do you enjoy doing?
Steel: I love playing basketball. If I was at least a solid 2 feet taller I think I would try to be a pro b-baller.
WG: Who is your favorite pro women’s rider? What do you like about her?
Steel: Amber Wing is probably one of my favorite women’s rider because she is pushing the pro women division to a new level by landing two different 7s.
WG: Last year, Nike 6.0 hosted Raging Pull 2 at your house in Lake Placid, Florida. Tell us a bit about the event, and is there another one in the works for this year?
Steel: Raging Pull was an awesome event Nike 6.0 put on just to get the wake community together for a day of greatness, and they succeeded. I actually have no idea if there is another one in the making for my house but I know they are doing more.
WG: You won 1st place in the Jr. Men’s Division at the Board Up Miami competition on April 24th and then moved on to win 2nd place in the Jr. Men’s Division at Wake Games on April 26th of this year at OWC. What are some of the things that you do to stay focused and in the mind-set for a competition?
Steel: Staying focused for me is actually really easy because I am always thinking about different tricks to do and what tricks I want to do in contests. I love wakeboarding too much to get distracted from it.
WG: Last year, MasterCraft Boats partnered with you to custom build an X-Star that showcased your own creative work. Tell us about the process.
Steel: Nike 6.0, MasterCraft, Josh Sirloin and myself all joined together to make a boat that would be crazy-out-of-this-world-looking and that would catch everyone’s eye out on the water. I definitely think we accomplished our goal.
WG: Would you like to send a shout-out to your sponsors?
Steel: I would like to thank Nike 6.0, MasterCraft Boats, Performance Ski and Surf, Liquid Force, Straight Line, O-Town, my parents, and everyone who has supported me throughout my career.
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