Action-Packed First Day at Nautique Wake Games
Opens 2014 King of Wake Season and Inaugural Nautique Wake Series
More Than 200 Professionals and Amateur Athletes in Orlando for Prestigious Event
Orlando, Fla. — The highly anticipated opening day of Nautique Wake Games presented by Rockstar saw fiercely competitive heats across five divisions at Orlando Watersports Complex to kick off the 2014 King of Wake season. The day’s most exciting action came from some of the world’s most talented wakeboarders in the sport’s two elite divisions – Men’s Pro and Women’s Pro.
Launching off the massive wake from the award-winning Super Air Nautique G23, the event’s official towboat, the Pro Men gave fans a glimpse of the tricks they’d been perfecting over the offseason. Next-level riding was on display from a slew of competitors. Among the day’s standout performances was a heat winning run from Nautique Team Rider, J.D. Webb. Known as one of the sport’s best rail riders, Webb also showed off his impressive aerial game today with a qualifying run that included a huge toe side 900, stylish 540 rewind and a clean backside off axis 360. Day one at Wake Games also marked the much awaited rookie debut of Noah Flegel in the Men’s Pro division. Coming off a highly-decorated Junior Pro career, Flegel, a Nautique team rider, didn’t succumb to pressure and earned second place in his heat advancing him into Saturday’s quarterfinal round.
The pro women also made the most of their opportunity to charge arguably the world’s best wake when they got their shot behind the G23. The day’s top performance came from Nicola Butler, who’s well-balanced run of huge airs and sound technical maneuvers, earned the division high score. The sport’s all time winningest rider, Dallas Friday, was in vintage form pulling from her deep bag of tricks that included a huge KGB and roll to blind posting the heat winning score. Nautique team riders Raimi Merritt and Megan Ethell also displayed solid riding behind the G23, their boat of choice, claiming second place finishes in their respective heats and securing spots in the semifinals.
“As the season opening event, the Nautique Wake Games is always one of the most exciting stops of the year,” said Chris Bischoff, competition director. “The G23 was pumping out a huge, clean wake and the pro men and women were both boosting gigantic airs behind it giving the fans a lot to cheer about today.”
Also hitting the waters at OWC today were wakeboarding’s future stars in the Junior Pro Men division. The talented teenagers awed fans by boosting airs that few riders that young can pull off. Head of class in today’s Junior Pro Men quarterfinals was Australian rider Cory Teunissen, who impressed the judges with flawless rotating airs and technical grabs to earn a perfect 100 point score.
Unique to Wake Games, this event also includes a team competition element. 10 preselected pro riders will serve as team captains and host a live draft tomorrow consisting of the 90 remaining athletes who advanced past the initial qualifying rounds. The captains will form teams from the 24 professional and amateur divisions. Over the course of the final two days of competition, the athletes will compete in their respective divisions, which are separated by age, sex and skill level, while contributing points toward a team score based on their individual placement in that division. The team with the highest collective score will win the overall title. All 24 divisions will crown an individual winner as well.
The Nautique Wake Games is stop number one on the King of Wake Series. Online adult tickets are available for $7 (46% off the gate price) Gate prices are: $13 (adult); $5 (ages 6-12); free (ages 5 and under). For information on the Nautique Wake Games, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, visit www.kingofwake.com.
Day 1 Results (Riders in bold advance)
Pro Men – Qualifying Round Heat 1
**1. Danny Harf – 78.33
2. Josh Palma 66.67**
3. Brad Teunissen 58.33
4. Colby Bernier 53.33
Pro Men – Qualifying Round Heat 2
**1. Stephen Pierce 78.33
2. Damian Adam 63.33**
3. Brad Smeele 50.00
4. Anthony Cote 43.33
Pro Men – Qualifying Round Heat 3
**1. JD Webb 85.00
2. Darin Shapiro 75.00**
3. Marcelo Giardi 60.00
4. Christian Primrose 41.67
Pro Men – Qualifying Round Heat 4
**1. David O’Caoimh 75.00
2. Josh Twelker 66.67**
3. Gunner Shuler 55.00
4. Timothy Burnier 36.67
Pro Men – Qualifying Round Heat 5
**1. Ryan Anderson 60.00
2. Kennan Allen 60.00**
3. Chad Sharpe 50.00
4. Ian Cole 43.33
Pro Men – Qualifying Round Heat 6
**1. Aaron Rathy 78.33
2. Jacob Valdez 66.67**
3. Jimmy Trask 63.33
4. Jason Bannatyne 53.33
Pro Men – Qualifying Round Heat 7
**1. Daniel Powers 77.67
2. Jeff House 76.67**
3. Jeff McKee 69.33
4. Danny Thollander 68.33
Pro Men – Qualifying Round Heat 8
**1. Oli Derome 78.33
2. Sam Carne 71.00**
3. John Zdeblick 55.00
4. Pierce Homsey 53.33
Pro Men – Qualifying Round Heat 9
**1. Jimmy LaRiche 80.00
2. Shawn Watson 76.67**
3. Massi Piffaretti 53.33
4. Bob Soven 51.67
Pro Men – Qualifying Round Heat 10
**1. Tony Carroll 85.00
2. Noah Flegel 76.67**
3. Shaun Murray 71.67
4. Tony Iacconi 65.00
5. Kirby Liesmann 53.33
Women’s Pro – Quarterfinals Heat 1
**1. Nicola Butler 81.00
2. Tarah Mikacich 73.33**
3. Ashley Leugner 58.33
4. Abby Delgoffe 38.33
Women’s Pro – Quarterfinals Heat 2
**1. Rebecca Gange 76.67
2. Larisa Morales 66.67**
3. Corrie Dyer 53.33
4. Caroline Djupsjo 30.00
Women’s Pro – Quarterfinals Heat 3
**1. Melissa Marquardt 78.67
2. Meagan Ethell 71.67**
3. Taylor McCullough 63.33
4. Charlotte Bryant 43.33
Women’s Pro – Quarterfinals Heat 4
**1. Dallas Friday 80.00
2. Raimi Merritt 66.67**
3. Sian Hurst 45.00
4. Brooke Grassman 33.33
Women’s Pro – Quarterfinals Heat 5
**1. Amber Wing 68.33
2. Chloe Mills 55.00**
3. Shelby King 46.67
Junior Pro Men – Quarterfinals Heat 1
**1. Jason Soven 98.50
2. Gunner Daft 85.25**
3. Juan Mendez
4. Erik Schroeder 59.75
Junior Pro Men – Quarterfinals Heat 2
**1. Joey Buss 91.75
2. Mac Schramm 91.75**
3. Jake Pelot 85.00
4. Merret Fay 71.50
Junior Pro Men – Quarterfinals Heat 3
**1. James Loisel 91.75
2. Yun Sanghyun 83.50**
3. Robby Holihan 76.75
4. Justin McMahon 76.75
5. Gus Shuler 69.75
Junior Pro Men – Quarterfinals Heat 4
**1. Parker Siegele 96.50
2. Jorge Gill 87.25**
3. Marc Kroon 84.75
4. Tyler Higham 66.50
5. Nic Rapa 65.00
Junior Pro Men – Quarterfinals Heat 5
**1. Cory Teunissen 100.00
2. Jamie McCauley 81.50**
3. Zachary Brown 77.25
4. Sebastia Santacroce 75.25
5. Nicholas Brown 43.50
Masters – Semifinals Heat 1
**1. Tim Pitschke 71.67
2. Ty Udell 60.00
3. Kevin Michael 50.00**
4. Francisco Cabezas 35.00
Adaptive Sitboarding – Semifinals Heat 1
1. Connor Aguilar-Poggetto 90.33
2. Phil Kerr 80.33
3. Will Speed 56.67
