Check out all the action from Texas Ski Ranch’s eighth-annual Cablestock. The three-day event included cable, boat and wakeskate competitions as well as a performance by Mickey Avalon and a bikini contest.
The inaugural Obscura Championships presented by Monster Energy Drink kicked off Cablestock 2010. Aaron Reed, Danny Hampson and the crew had free reign with the small ponds towards the back of Texas Ski Ranch and took full advantage of the setting, building a seven-stair pool gap with hubba-style ledges on both sides as well two more ledges in the landing pond. The different hits allowed for judging of the best line rather than just best trick. Reed and Hampson were able to entice some of the largest names in the wakeskate industry including Nick Taylor, James Balzer, Stuart Shinn, Ben Horan, Andy Pastura, Bret Little and Reed Hansen. In the end, Horan was crowned champion while Hansen took second with use of only one arm (seriously, he hurt his shoulder and rode with his arm inside his vest) and Hampson took third.
After Friday’s qualifying round for the winch comp finished, the wakeskaters headed to qualifying behind the MasterCraft X-Star and then to the cable for two of the most fun events of the weekend. Texas Ski Ranch scheduled a wakeskate launch competition and a shove it comp for Friday night. After narrowing the launch comp down to just four riders, we strapped the ShadowBox to their helmets and let them fly. The finalists included Chad Sharpe, Bret Little, Bryan Wogrin and Wes Keller. Each had his own unique style, but Wogrin edged out Sharpe, going 22.7 feet in the air — the same height as Rusty Malinoski’s largest double-up ever recorded by a ShadowBox. Sharpe went 19.3 with his patented Flying Squirrel.
Immediately following the launch was the shove it comp, which asked the question, “How many wakeskate shove its can you complete in one 60-second lap at Texas Ski Ranch?” After two attempts, Nike 6.0 rider Nick Taylor said it was one of the most fun wakeskate events he had been to in a long time. Grant Roberts was the fourth rider off the dock and threw down a phenomenal 51 shoves. The three previous riders had 31, 32 and 43 which at the time all seemed amazing. Andy Pastura and Nick Taylor both posted 47 on their second attempts while almost blacking out from exhaustion. Bret Little didn’t want the title to leave Texas and put out 43 with about 15 percent of the course left but fell. When everyone had nothing left, Grant went on a victory lap and landed 20 shuvs before crashing at tower 1 — at that pace he would have been over 60 shoves.
The cable wakeboard competition began with the two best cable riders in the world — Tom Fooshee and Nick Davies — winning their heats. Marc Shuster from Ski Rixen won the third heat. In the womens cable compe, Nicola Butler qualified first and continued her domination through the finals where she took home the top spot. Texan Ryan Smith won the junior. Reed Hansen qualified first in cable wakeskate but was only able to finish fourth in the finals after hurting his shoulder and again riding with only one arm. Andy Pastura topped the cable wakeskate podium with Bret Little and Josh Zentmeyer finishing second and third.
While Davies and Tom were expected to dual it out in the much-anticipated mens wakeboard final, Nick sustained an injury on his opening lap that would prevent him from riding the rest of the day. Tom Fooshee continued his dominance with a seemingly effortless win, throwing down a Pete 5 and HS BS 7 off the kickers, killing the rails with gap BS 450s and air tricks that included S-mobe 5s and Crow Mobe 5s. The real kicker was Tom’s wild card in which he stuck a switch toeside 1080 — his fourth in a row. Marc Shuster took second with a inside slim and a whirley 5 among a few other hammers. Josh Rice, Cody Johnson and Sam Scoggins round out the top five while Nick Davies finished sixth despite the injury.
The MasterCraft wakeboard and wakeskate boat competitions were the most difficult to judge all weekend long. The riding was unbelievable with so many great riders making it out to Texas Ski Ranch for this year’s event. Tom Fooshee continued his Texas dominance by beating out Sam Carne and Chad Sharpe who also found their way to the podium. Stu Shin showed which discipline he excelled in by winning the wakeskate boat competition. Nicola Butler swept the cable and boat comps becoming only the second woman to do so.
The Liquid Force structure-only comp saw Tom Fooshee dominate again. With Nick Davies forced to watch because of an injury, Tom was able to place first in all three areas, earning a perfect 100. Cody Johnson was second and Gabe Lucas took third. The real surprise was rookie Sam Scoggins, who qualified for the finals in both cable events and was able to take fourth in the structure-only comp. Look for more out of Sam in future events at Texas Ski Ranch.
Saturday also had all kinds of activities that were not part of the competitions. Cody Johnson adapted a C-rail from the skate park so it could attach to the front of the Texas Ski Ranch tractor to be used as part of the Rixen Little Bro two-tower demonstration. Liquid Force riders Cody Johnson, Kevin Henshaw and Tom Fooshee showed off for a while before Liquid Force filled the lake with tubes and inflatables. This was the perfect way to watch competitions on either side, because the Little Bro lake is sandwiched in between the boat and cable lakes. The bikini contest kicked off Saturday night’s festivities, followed by Mickey Avalon. With more than 1,000 spectators, the college-aged crowd was able to see a great show in even a greater setting!
Texas Ski Ranch would like to thank MasterCraft, Liquid Force, Nike 6.0, Burger King, Monster, Cablewakeboard.com, Norbi Films, Rukus, Obscura, 101x, Study Breaks and Swami Studios.
Results
Pro Structure-Only Finals
1. Tom Fooshee 100
2. Cody Johnson 67
3. Gabe Lucas 60
4. Sam Scoggins 57
5. Kaesen Suyderhoud 20
6. Nick Davies N/A
Cable Finals
Juniors
1. Ryan Smith
2. Marshall Lewis
3. Connor Shephard
4. Brock Zoyer
Womens
1. Nicola Butler
2. Anna Hajek
3. Kelly Jo Hill
4. Holland Finley
Wakeskate
1. Andy Pastura
2. Bret Little
3. Josh Zentmeyer
4. Reed Hansen
5. David Roehm
6. Jesse Landry
Pro Men
1. Tom Fooshee
2. Marc Shuster
3. Josh Rice
4. Cody Johnson
5. Sam Scoggins
6. Nick Davies
MasterCraft Boat Comp Finals
Womens
1. Nicola Butler
2. Anna Hajek
3. Kara Dias
4. Holland Finley
Wakeskate
1. Stu Shin
2. James Balzer
3. Grant Roberts
4. Danny Hampson
5. Travis Doran
Pro Men
1. Tom Fooshee
2. Sam Carne
3. Chad Sharpe
4. Joey Bradley
5. Nick Davies
6. Jade Whirley
Obscura Winch Comp Finals
1. Ben Horan
2. Reed Hanson
3. Danny Hampson
Wakeskate Shove it Results
1. Grant Roberts 51
2. Nick Taylor 47 (tie)
2. Andy Pastura 47 (tie)
4. Bret Little 43
5. David Roeam 41
Wakeskate Launch
1. Bryan Wogrin 22.7′
2. Chad Sharpe 19.3′
3. Wes Keller 14.7′
4. Bret Little 17.9′
