TSR’s FreeZride went just as planned. Cold and rainy on Friday and Saturday, just to make sure our competitors were wholeheartedly into the sport and the competition. Anyone can wakeboard when it is warm and sunny outside, but it takes true devotion when the weather is not cooperating and the water temp is in the 50’s. Despite the weather, spectators saw some great runs in every division. Similar to the two previous years of FreeZride, the weather was not enough to stop the competitors that were anxious to start their season a little early. This year’s event had over 100 competitors competing in both wakeboarding and wakeskating, using three different devices--a winch, the TSR cable system and last but not least a 2006 MasterCraft, the official towboat of Texas Ski Ranch.
The action began Friday evening with the Under 360 Polar Grind. The event saw over 25 wakeboarders and wakeskaters competing for over four hours in the cold and drizzle. After the first two hours the field was narrowed down to just 10 riders who hit the rail until they were satisfied or frozen, whichever came first. In the end, Tom Fooshee’s early hits pushed Gabe Lucas to stay out until he cleanly landed a frontside boardslide on the wall ride up to the slider, onto the rail and backside 90’ed out. On the wakeskate, Bret Little and Clint Tompkins both killed the pool & rails, with Clint narrowly edging out Bret. The only award that was easy to judge was best crash. Josh Rice took home the prize when a slow winch pull made it impossible for Josh to ollie onto the wall ride and he went head over heals out of the front of the pool and down between the stairs and the rail. Look for all of the footage on Unders 360’s new video “It’s Whatever” coming out in May.
Saturday began with an hour delay for rain which was much appreciated by those who had a late night on Friday. The intermediate and advanced riders hit the water as the rain slowed. The highlight of the day had to be when TJ Boulware finished his run with a toe-off 720. In the end it was not enough as Brett Hickey took home the coveted FreeZride jacket and the advance division championship. Brett was joined by Rusty Scott and Barron Phillips on the podium. In the intermediate division Garret Kopecki took home top honors followed by Justin Troth and Luke Cordes. With the first two divisions completed, the Pro wakeskaters put on a display that could have been the best to date at TSR. Sammy Woodson and Jesse Landry had incredible runs and were seeded 1 and 2 going into Sunday’s finals. In the finals, No Fear team rider, Clint Tompkins hit 2 big spins, a 360 shuvit as well as a kick flip. The run put to much pressure on the following riders and was easily enough to win the event. The pro wakeboarders took to the water next, and it was obvious who had been riding this offseason and who hadn’t. Mitch Bergsma won his first pro/outlaw event at TSR by winning the preliminary round as well as the final round. “Mitch looked better than I have ever seen him ride”, said event coordinator Blake Hess. Look for him to push fellow Texan’s Gabe Lucas and Tom Fooshee throughout the rest of 2006.
The third and final contest took place on TSR’s cable system. With help from Liquid Force TSR has compiled one of the best slider parks in the world. With everything from the new 124’ giant, to the A-Frame/fun box there is something for just about everyone in every division. The intermediate and advanced divisions were won by Landon Hopper and Blake Vorwald respectively. The wakeskate division saw Bret Little leading from wire to wire winning both the preliminaries and the finals. However, Corey Whitely made him work for the championship finishing second after hitting both a kickflip and 360 shuvit. Bret’s mastery of the rails was the difference and gave him the win. In wakeboard Tom Fooshee walked away with the title. Tom continues to amaze on every aspect of the cable including sliders, kickers and air tricks. Tom’s riding and versatility can only be compared to Keith Lidberg. Tom’s run included a heelside backside 7, a switch frontside 7, mobe, switch mobe, whirly 5, indy s-bend 2 blind, pete rose and a switch 313. This doesn’t include the sliders that he killed too. With runs like that he is making it difficult on riders like Kyle Reed and Josh Wright who shared the podium with Tom.
The weather started to get better Sunday morning and by the time the finals were over the sun was shining. The athletes who come out to FreeZride are always die hard and make it fun to host the tournament. We are already looking forward to next year’s event! TSR would like to thank our sponsors that helped us put on the 2006 FreeZride: MasterCraft, Liquid Force, Jet Pilot, and No Fear. For more information about the TSR FreeZride, please log onto www.texasskiranch.com. For information about sponsoring upcoming events, please email Blake Hess at blake@texasskiranch.com.
Polar Gind
Best Hit Wakeboard
Gabe Lucas: TS front board on the wall ride up to the slider and backside 90 out.
Best Hit Wakeskate
Clint Tompkins: Ollied onto the rail, which was a pretty big ollie by the end of the night since we broke the pull cord on the water pump and couldn't add more water. Smoothly slid the rail and came out switch.
Best Crash
Josh Rice: Because of a slow winch pull, could not get up on the wall ride and went head over heals out of the front of the pool and down between the stairs and the rail.
Boat Competitions
Intermediate Wakeboard
1. Garret Kopecki
2. Justin Troth
3. Luke Cordes
4. Gregory Warren
5. Brian Hambrick
Advanced Wakeboard
1. Brett Hickey
2. Rusty Scott
3. Baron Phillips
4. Colt Lenone
5. John Aulick
Wakeskate
1. Clint Tompkins
2. Keaton Bowbly
3. Jesse Landry
4. Jerry Lafferty
5. Ben Mize
6. Sammy Woodson
Pro Wakeboard
1. Mitch Bergsma
2. Tom Fooshee
3. Ryan Anderson
4. Joey Bradley
5. Ross Skruland
6. Dustin Shows
7. Gabe Lucas
Cable Competitions
Intermediate Wakeboard
1. Landon Hopper
2. Max Bialick
3. Tyler German
4. Ryan Saunders
5. Forrest Hess
