Texas Ski Ranch’s Cablestock 2004 was everything an action sport festival should be: lots of riding for everyone, great music, extreme cars and trucks, a motox race, fun, bikinis everywhere, off the wall events, and some hot head to head competition on the boat and cable lakes.
The weekend kicked off with pro and amateur riders showing up Friday to take full advantage of the 3 day riding weekend. With TSR’s six person carrier cable tow system, it allowed for riders of all levels to share the water, while everyone picked up some new tricks.
Saturday morning The Meltdown Car & Truck show moved in lakeside, bringing more than 100 vehicles to show and shine. Classics, hot rods and monster trucks lined the cable lake, with exhibitors and spectators enjoying the opportunity to show off their rides while being entertained throughout the weekend with wake and motocross events. Over 75 awards were given away for best in show vehicles.
On the cable lake, things heated up as 12 of the top cable wakeboarders from around the world went at it in TSR’s signature head to head format. With 6 of the best boarders riding at the same time, competitors had 7 minutes to throw their wildest moves to advance to the final heat. In the finals, it was Josh Wright, Robin Friday and Chris Ramirez walking away with the first three places.
After the wakeboard event, six wakeskaters took to the lake as well, competing for Cablestock honors as they shoved, slid and ollied their way around the lake. Kyle Helms, Stefan Schriewer and Zak Stone took top honors in the wakeskate division.
Teams of four hit the boat lake behind the 2004 Mastercraft XStar. In true TSR fashion of doubling the excitement, these competitors went huge, taking turns going big for the crowd. Each team had 30 minutes from the time the boat left the dock to impress the crowd and judges. Robert Moore, Billy North, Brian Frances and Kurtis Rauhut proved to have more fun which lead to bigger and better tricks and eventually the win.
TSR’s jack-ass style events were huge crowd pleasers. Open to anyone with the huevos to compete, riders entered one or both of these crazy event formats. The first put riders on the cable lake, zipping around to the front stretch where they were confronted with a fire truck spraying hundreds of gallons of pressurized water at them. The object: to jump over, avoid, and most importantly, not be pulverized by the solid stream of water. With the crowd rooting for the fire truck, riders took their hits and kept coming back for more.
TSR’s third shot at WakeSkate Skeetball was a crowd pleaser as usual. Off the dock riders came in hard at TSR’s white kicker, with the goal of flying off, abandoning their board and aiming for one of the 3 sizes of skeetball rings at various distances in the water. Unlike any other style or form seen all weekend, these wakeskaters were giving it up for the cause. Zak Stone, Matt “Stitch” Leitko and Chris Ramirez combined form and distance to take top honors.
TSR again hosted an evening bikini contest that saw Brooke win for an unprecedented second time. Unfortunately TSR was forced to disqualify some of the contestants that did not follow the rules of the competition as well as the values of TSR.
On Sunday, the EVO Vintage MotoX Tour stopped at TSR for a day of vintage, evolution, modern and mini bike racing. Watching these classic rides on TSR’s outdoor supercross style track was golden. Top finishers earned points in this 5th stop of the spring series. Points results can be found at http://www.evovintage.com/scoreboard.htm.
Throughout the weekend over 5000 spectators of all ages enjoyed great music, a climbing wall, hanging out on the beach, water play, the cable lake, skate park and motocross practice. The festival atmosphere gave novice riders the opportunity to interact with some of the best athletes that action sports has to offer, sharing the park, the dock, the track, their experiences and more.
Texas Ski Ranch’s next annual event is the Thursday night “Showdown at the Ranch” series, a grassroots wakeboard series alternating on the cable lake and boat lake throughout June and July. At least one stop of this series will be mandatory for athletes wanting to enter the Final Showdown July 31 – August 1. For more information regarding this event or Cablestock, see www.texasskiranch.com.
