The third and final stop of the 2005 Texas Wakeboard Tour took place at the private lake of Texas Mastercraft & Chaparral in Fort Worth, Texas. The weather was awesome and the heat was mild compared to stop #2 in Houston. Participation from sponsors was awesome and made for a fun atmosphere on the shore. The field was made up of sixteen (16) Advance riders, twelve (12) Expert riders, nine (9) Wakeskaters and fourteen (14) of the top Outlaw riders in the state.
The order was switched up from the two previous stops with the Expert riders going off the dock first. The field was split into two heats with the top two (2) in each heat advancing to the finals. After the qualifying runs, it was Rusty Scott, Logan Farris, Danny Sherrill and series point’s leader Clint Gee heading into the finals. In the end, Danny Sherrill from Lewisville, TX took the first place podium spot. Sherrill, who had failed to place in the first two stops of the series, pulled out all the stops in the finals. His Krypt and TS 5 were big, but it was his last trick…a clean TS 720 that locked up the win. Clint Gee from Mount Vernon took home second place. Gee, who has been killing it all season, continued his dominance with a run full of 540 spins. He fell on his first trick…a HS 5, but came back with a TS 5, HS 5, Cab 5 and switch TS 5 in his pass. With the second place finish, Clint Gee locked up the overall series points win in the Expert Division and received the bonus prize…a Game Sac courtesy of series sponsor, Love Sac. Third place at the final stop went to Logan Farris from Canyon Lake, TX. This was Farris’ second podium win in the series and he got there with a variety of tricks including four Tantrum variations, plenty of spins and a Crow for good measure.
In an effort to showcase the top riders on the tour while the biggest crowds of the day were on-hand, the Outlaw Division was up second at the final stop. Fourteen riders where split in to two heats with the top four (4) from each heat moving on to the finals for a single elimination head-to-head showdown. In the first heat, it was Andrew Dryhood, Brian Sasser, Jack Scanio and Lucas Snyder who advanced. Heat #2 saw Ryan Anderson, Dustin Shows, Hank Carter and Jack Scanio moving on to the finals. The crowd was treated to some awesome riding from all of the Outlaws. In a reversal of the first two stops of the series…it was Tom Fooshee from New Braunfels and Brian Sasser of Denton, TX and who ended up finishing one-two on the podium and taking home $1000 and $750 respectively. Sasser also clinched the series championship in the Outlaw Division and received a set of KMC Wheels, valued at $2500, for his efforts. Oklahoma’s Ryan Anderson took home third place and a check for $500. The Outlaw winners also each received custom TWT trophy boards courtesy of Krown Wakeboards.
Next up were the wakeskaters and Richie McKee, riding on his “home” lake, threw down a series of 180 lip tricks mixed with his usual array of big TS and HS wake-to-wake jumps to take the first place spot and defend his title as the overall series champion in the Wakeskate Division. McKee took home $500 for the first place finish and another $250 bonus for the series championship! Second place went to Tegan Gainen, a young ripper who is no stranger to the TWT podium. Gainen’s pass included HS and TS wake-to-wake moves as well as a Switch Big Spin. He added another $300 to his previous earnings for the 2005 season. Corey Whitley from New Braunfels, Texas…in only his first year of competing... took home third place.
The final division to compete at the last stop was the Advance riders. There was a four way tie in the series point’s standings going into the event. The riders were split into two heats with the top two in each heat advancing to the finals. Cason Caraway and Brady Webb moved on from heat #1 and Cooper Brown and Cole Avance were the qualifiers from heat #2. When the dust settled, it was Cason Caraway sitting atop the field. Caraway put together the best variety of tricks in his pass including a Tantrum, HS Backroll, TS Front Roll, Double Grab and a HS Front Flip. Second Place went to Cole Avance from Arlington, TX. In a repeat of his winning run at stop #2, it was overall style and amplitude and the big Switch Crow that nailed another podium finish for Avance. His consistency paid off and Cole also took home the series championship for the Advance Division and a new Liquid Force Wakeboard as a bonus. Third place, and his first ever contest win, went to Brady Webb. The smile on this kids face was worth the price of admission!
Great pictures from the 2005 TWT series can be found at:
www.smoothimage.com
www.rlcrowphotography.com/twt3page1.htm
www.kicker.com
As the tour organizer, it was great to wrap up the series back home in Dallas-Fort Worth. Once again the riding was awesome and the crowd on hand definitely seemed to enjoy watching it all unfold! Thanks again to everyone who attended – riders and spectators – and special thanks to all the major sponsors who made this series possible…Nissan North America, Mastercraft Boats, Chipotle Restaurants and the US Air Force. Thanks also to Jimmy Harvell and the crew at Texas Mastercraft & Chaparral for hosting the final stop and to Kicker Audio for providing the sound system all season along with some great prizes. Thanks also to all my industry partners who helped make our second year another success…Liquid Force, Da Hui, Krown Wakeoards, LoveSac, Reef, Spy Optic, KMC Wheels, Ten 80 Clothing, Wake Culture, One West, Blue Moon Cinema, Texas Chiropractic Connection, Wake Specialties, O’Brien, Fox Racing, Indo Board, Straightline, the Texas Ski Ranch, Game Stop and the TBKS crew for providing great on-site support and some great prizes. Thanks also to Red Bull for giving us wings when we needed them and Eric at Craigs Collision for slaving over the grill so we all had plenty to eat! Thanks to our media partners - Alliance Wakeboard Magazine, the Dallas Observer, Texas Boating Magazine and KDGE “The Edge” Radio Station and the crew at Dallaswakeboarding.com. And last, but certainly not least… thanks to all the friends and family who made up the Texas Wakeboard Tour Staff; webmaster Dan Lorey, dock starters Don Burnett, Kubby Avance and Scott Bradley who kept us ahead of schedule, drivers Joey Bradley and Chase Tillman, Scot Leveret and everyone who helped out with the judging duties, photographers Richard Crow and Jeremy Linebaugh, , Coral Bradley and Tina Avance in the Rider VIP tent …Richie McKee, Justin Kiefer, Sally and Jeff Knight, Phillip Parkinson, Mark Cassio, my mom and sisters and especially Nicky, Katie, Jack and my wife Susie… I couldn’t have done it without you!
