Detroit, Michigan (June 6, 2003) - Friday brought a special event to Four Bears Water Park just outside Detroit in Utica, Michigan as the world's best professional wakeboarders fought for spots in the 2003 men's X Games competition.
Friday's event, which precedes the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour stop beginning Saturday, featured 50 of the world's top pros going after just five qualifying spots in the 2003 X Games to be held in Los Angeles, August 16-17.
The end result was a mixture of established pros who had been to and won the X Games before along with some surprising first time qualifiers.
Former X Games Champion Parks Bonifay found himself in the very unfamiliar spot of having to qualify for the event. Bonifay was successful in his quest for an X Games invitation finishing second in his heat behind Shawn Watson.
With two spots going to Bonifay and Watson, the other heat broke down to Brett Eisenhauer and Chris Law, who earned his first spot in the X Games.
With four spots decided in the Round Two qualifier, only one spot remained from today's qualifier. That spot went to first time X Games participant Keith Lyman. Lyman, the 2001 Junior Men's World Champion earned entry through the Last Chance Qualifier, just edging Daniel Watkins.
There are still a few available spots left to be determined for the 2003 X Games wakeboarding competition, but those spots will not be decided until July when riders will be selected from Pro Wakeboard Tour rankings, Wild Cards and the MasterCraft Junior X Series.
Round 2
2 heats of 6
Top 2 from each heat qualify for the X-Games
Next 2 from each heat advance to L C Q
1 Brett Eisenhauer (AUS) 96
2 Chris Law (FL) 92
3 Tino Santori (CO) 90
4 Daniel Watkins (AUS) 89
Froggy Soven (FL) 88
Trevor Hansen (FL) 83
1 Shawn Watson (FL) 97
2 Parks Bonifay (FL) 95
3 Keith Lyman (FL) 89
4 Rob Struharik (OH) 88
Shane Bonifay (FL) 87
Zane Schwenk (FL) 82
L C Q
Top rider will qualify for the X-Games
1 Keith Lyman (FL) 95
Daniel Watkins (AUS) 94
Rob Struharik (OH) 91
Froggy Soven (FL) 88
Tino Santori (CO) 87
HEAT # 1
1 Daniel Watkins (AUS) 95
2 Keith Lyman (FL) 93
Andrew Adkison (FL) 91
Chad Sharpe (CAN) 86
Cody Hall (CA) 83
Jeff Weatherall (NZL) 82
Scot Ferwerda (MI) 81
Joe Schmidt (FL) 78
Brian Brech (OH) 76
HEAT # 2
1 Shane Bonifay (FL) 97
2 Rob Struharik (OH) 92
Chris Laske (MI) 91
Ben Greenwood (FL) 89
Justin Sellers (NC) 84
John Peterson (FL) 83
Timothy Keepers (WI) 80
Wes Briscoe (FL) 78
HEAT # 3
1 Parks Bonifay (FL) 97
2 Zane Schwenk (FL) 91
Sean O'Brien (FL) 90
Kevin Henshaw (CAN) 89
Joey Arcisz (TX) 84
Tim Pitschke (PA) 83
Chris Canuel (CAN) 81
Ricky Gonzales (CA) 77
