Canadians rule the final day of Wakestock 2008
The biggest Canadian wakeboard tournament of the year is in the books, and the hometown boys reclaimed the wakeboard titles from the defending Wakestock champions who were hailing from the US. Rusty Malinoski defeated the seemingly invincible Phillip Soven in the finals for the Pro Mens Expression Session, while fellow Canadian, Aaron Rathy, took it home on the rails.
The American’s did represent in the wakeskate division though. Stuart Shinn bested the all-American final which included the likes of Brian Grubb, Reed Hansen, and Danny Hampson.
The men weren’t the only ones on hand as Amber Wing added another impressive win to her increasingly long resume.
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[full press release after the break]
Press release:
CANADIANS CHARGE TO VICTORY ON WAKESTOCK FINAL DAY!
(Toronto, ON) July 27, 2008 – Home country favourites Rusty Malinoski and Aaron Rathy charged through to epic wins over defending champions Phillip Soven and Keith Lidberg in the Wakestock 2008 Expression Session and Rail Championship events respectively. The wins capped an unbelievable four days of intense action both on and off the water at Wakestock, an event known equally for its challenging, world leading rails and demanding party schedule.
The hotly contested Wakestock Malibu Expression Session, part of the WWA World Series featured Malinoski, Soven, Rathy and Andrew Adkison in a four man super final. Malinoski, Soven and Rathy each stood up strong runs and double-ups making the scoring tight; Malinoski stuck a Backside 7 off the double-up, while Soven stomped a Toeside 9 and Rathy hit a Heelside 9. The difference though was Wakestock’s big, technical rail course which played to Malinoski and Rathy’s strengths. Both posted smooth, impressive slides over the three big 100-foot rails. Malinoski was able to stay close to Soven with big wake tricks to take the win by a decisive 12.5 point margin, while Soven nosed out Rathy by 3 points. Andrew Adkison struggled with a fall off the big Double- Kinked A-Frame rail and was never able to get back into contention. Thailand’s “Bomb”, Jaemjan Padwat tied for 5th with American Trevor Hansen while Australians Dean Smith and Daniel Watkins tied for 7th to round out the top eight.
The Wakestock Billabong Railslide Championship featured Aaron Rathy in his second final four appearance of the weekend, up against rail course destroyer and the three-time defending champion Keith Lidberg, the hard charging JD Webb and the ultra-smooth Collin Harrington. Lidberg had been ruling the Wakestock rails all through the preliminary rounds, but in the finals struggled to hold his slides over the entire length of the big rails. That left the door open for Rathy, Harrington and Webb. In the end it came down to two-pass consistency on the five rail course which demanded a three foot ollie onto the 100 foot Roof Top Step-Up rail; Rathy was just that much more consistent than the others to grab his first ever Wakestock Rail title, followed by Harrington, Webb and Lidberg. Shane Bonifay and Raphael Derome tied for 5th and Rusty Malinoski and Jimmy Lariche tied for 7th to round out the top eight.
Wakeskaters had two dedicated events to contest at Wakestock for the first time: the Billabong Wakeskate boat contest presented by Monster Energy, and the Oakley Wakeskate Pool Jam. The Billabong Wakekskate four man final featured defending Wakestock champion Brain Grubb up against Reed Hansen, the 2007 Wakestock champion, Danny Hampson, who is enjoying a strong come-back year and Stuart Shinn, one of the sport’s rising talents. Despite being the first rider off the dock, Shinn threw down an incredibly technical run including a wake-to-wake Heelside Shuv-it to Mute, a wake-to-wake Heelside Late Shuv and wake-to-wake Frontside 360 and a wake-to-wake Backside Bigspin for the last trick in his run. Hampson, Hansen and Grubb all had falls in their runs and ended up fourth, third and second respectively.