Winter Park, Florida – The race to become the world’s No. 1 wakeboarder and collect the $10,000 bonus that goes along with it will become more interesting in 2006 as the KING OF WAKE Wakeboard World Cup, the points standings that follow the performance of the world’s top pro riders across the competitive wakeboarding season, goes to a new format.
To keep the KING OF WAKE points race close to the finish, riders who fall outside of the top ten places after the fifth King of Wake event of the season, the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour stop in Portland, Oregon July 15-16, will be eliminated from the chase. The remaining top 10 riders will then be reseeded and the points race will be adjusted.
Beginning with the finale of the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour in Reno, the top ten riders will compete in the Chase for the Crown, five-event dash for the World’s number one ranking and the $10,000 prize.
“Our goal is to open the KING OF WAKE up so at least four or five riders have a chance to win with a strong performance in the last event of the season,” said Chris Bischoff, competition director for World Sports & Marketing, the company that oversees the KING OF WAKE. “It also gives a rider who has one bad event at the beginning of the season a chance to come on strong down the stretch and win the title.”
The KING OF WAKE will also establish a new way of awarding points at each event in 2006. The new points system rewards riders who win events while not penalizing riders who finish out of the top 10. Winning riders earn 100 points while second place drops off 10 points to 90, third drops 10 points to 80. After third place each rider’s placing will drop five points for places three to eight. Places nine through 16 will drop four points for each placing. Each place begging with 20th and lower will drop one point. The rider in 36th or last place will be awarded 1 point.
To make things even more exciting, the Air Nautique Wake Games will be a double-point event. Meaning the winning rider will receive 200 points, second place will be 180, third will be 160 and so on.
The new KING OF WAKE format will be accompanied by a new website as well. Kingofwake.com will provide information and follow the results of each event on the KING OF WAKE schedule.
2006 KING OF WAKE Wakeboard World Cup Events
Stop #1 MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour: Acworth, GA – May 4-7
Stop #2 MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour: Twin Cities, MN – June 10-11
Stop #3 Air Nautique Wake Games: Lake Elsinore, CA – June 22-25
Stop #4 MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour: Kelowna, BC Canada – July 7-10
Stop #5 MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour: Portland, OR – July 15-16
Stop #6 MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour: Reno/Sparks, NV – July 28-30
Stop # 7 X Games: Long Beach, CA – August 4-5
Stop #8 Air Nautique WWA Nationals: Pleasant Prairie, WI – August 23-27
Stop #9 WWA Worlds: Ft. Worth, TX – September 20-24
