2005 Tige U.S. Pro-Am Wakeboard Championship Malinoski Wins to Cap Breakout Year
Marathon, Florida Keys – Canadian Rusty Malinoski finished off 2005 with one of the biggest victories of his career, taking home the Pro Men’s Tige U.S. Pro-Am Championship on Sunday at Sombrero Beach in Marathon, Florida Keys. For his efforts this weekend, Malinoski earns $5,000 as the overall winner plus $2,000 for winning four rounds of the Pro Men’s skins tournament.
For Malinoski, the win ends the best season of his career which also featured a victory on the Pro Wakeboard Tour and top four finishes at the U.S. National Championships and Pan Am Championships. The win will also place Malinoski in the top five of the KING OF WAKE world cup rankings.
In other action at the Tige Pro-Am, Heather Johnson scored a stunning upset of Dallas Friday in the Pro Women’s final. Johnson who competed as an amateur until recently, took home her first pro victory with Friday finishing second and Barrett Perlman in third.
Danny Hampson, the top local performer who makes his home in Tavernier, Florida Keys, took second place in the Pro Wakeskate division finals on Sunday. Brandon Thomas of Orlando, Florida finshed first in the division and Reed Hansen finished in third.
Malinoski took first place in the Pro Men’s division because he came out on top of the most heats this weekend, winning four, two on both Saturday and Sunday. His heat victories in the skins format earned him $500 for each heat, or $2,000 total. Parks Bonifay finished second in the event, winning three skins. Andrew Adkison, who entered this event as the defending champion, finished third with two skin victories.
Since this was a Pro-Am, a number of amateur championships were also handed out on Sunday at Sombrero Beach. In the Amateur Women’s division Raimi Merritt took home first place. In the Boys division Robert Soven earned the win. Amateur Wakeskate went to Thomas Giesey. The Open division was won by Cory Ziehe. The Junior Men’s division went to 2005 U.S. National Champion, Adam Errington.
Tige Boats is the title sponsor and exclusive towboat of the event.
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