The Slide Show crew decided to end the series with a bang. Gregg and the crew figured what better way to end the series but with the biggest and baddest rails yet... if you check the photos, I think you could say it was mission accomplished. With the Florida sun shining and the most talented MC's in the business, Aaron Reed and Danny Hampson, it was time to ride…
The set up was unbelievable, there was a 40' x 20' take off pool with two rails going into the lake at the OWC cable park. One rail was a 50' down rail and the other was a 50' kinked rail. Each rail was about 5' off the ground but they had a 20' vertical drop. If the rider did not make it to the water, he or she was in for a hurtin'. Check out the attached photo of Stef Tor and you’ll know that even the pro's had some trouble with these rails.
The group of competitors had one of our youngest Slide Show competitor's in 12 year old Daniel Powers, and like the Rocklin event, had a girl, Barrett Perlman, out there representing. Barrett threw down all day, keeping up with the boys riding skills and toughness. Barrett was relentlessly attacking the rails and didn't let a few good falls ruin her day. She got back up and threw down with style and showed the crowd that she belonged. Unfortunately for her, and for Daniel, neither one of them made it to the final round of 4. The finals came down to four really talented riders, Fabien Ashley, Alex Hamrick, Steel Lafferty and Matt "The Freshman" Hirschbiel. These guys were being judged by some of the LF pros, Shawn Watson, Gregg Necrason, Collin Harrington, Ben Greenwood, Kevin Henshaw, Aaron Reed and Danny Hampson. The judges definitely had there work cut out for them. All four of these guys could have easily won, but in the end it came down to Matt "The Freshman" Hirschbiel. I would like to give huge props to 14 year old Steele Lafferty, watch out for this kid, he is going to have a great future in wakeboarding.
A big congratulations to "The Freshman", he will be joining the 9 winners of the previous Slide Show's (Brian Reeder, Eddie Valdez, Ben Bazis, Collin Ryan, Jason Kimball, Mike Cardoza, Chris Canuel, Shelby Cantor, and Ryan Anderson) at this upcoming weekend's final event in Houston. If you are in the Houston area September 30th , be sure to stop by 3 Palms Extreme Sports Park in Conroe, TX to witness some of the hottest wakeboarding in the world.
Big thanks to all of the Slide Show Sponsors, Monster Energy, Malibu Boats, Spy Optic, Reef, Alliance Wakeboard, Kicker, Surf Expo, and Lake Powell. We've said it before, but we’ll say it again… without the sponsors, these events would not be able to happen.
