In Texas you never plan on specific weather, you just go with what you get. And as for the second year in a row, the event has lived up to its name. While there was beautiful weather on Friday and Sunday, riders had to deal with 49 degrees and rain all day long for the wake competitions. The off-season and cold weather definitely affected some riders, but the top three place finishers in the pro wakeboard division behind the MasterCraft X-Star, Joey Arciz, Chris Ramirez and Brian Sasser were able to block it out and ride like they did to close out 2004. Joey put together a flawless run that included a huge BS offaxis 3, tootsie and switch tootsie, roll to blind, whirly, TS and HS off 5's and a couple other tricks to fill in the gaps. His run unanimously placed him in first and won him the coveted FreeZride jacket. (Only available to the winners of each division.) Chris Ramirez and Brian Sasser showed why they have been on top of the Texas wakeboarding scene for so long with consistency and big air in their always technical runs. TSR was extremely excited to see just about every Texas Rider make it out for the kick off to the 2005 season. This included Emily Copeland-Durham, who came out to ride in the men's division, even though she had not been on the water since October. Look for big things from some of the Texas riders this year who seem to be ahead of schedule by getting an early start at this event.
While wakeskate behind the boat only had six entries, there was no shortage on talent. Joshua Steele and Jerry Laferty battled out for first and second in one of the closest finishes of the day. Both wakeskaters hit 360 shuvits, backside shuvits, the TSR flat rail and more. In the end Joshua's backside 180 off the wake, and consistently throwing 5 shuvit variations without even the smallest chance of falling gave him the victory. Newcomer to Texas, Sammy Woodson also stuck a 360 shuvit and rode well to earn a podium spot in third.
Also held on Saturday was the Cable wakeboard competition that had three categories: Pro & Advanced wakeboard and wakeskate. The format was the same for all divisions, 2 separate laps and a wild card trick if the rider stood up his second pass. The Advanced division was first and had an unexpectedly high number of participants. There must be something to the extra time cable operators get on the water because three of the top four spots were taken by operators. Derrick Lenz earned a FreeZride jacket by winning the event on his home cable. Earl Ball and Carter Collins took 3rd and 4th respectively after making the road trip from KC watersports. James Carrol placed second with a good variety of air and kicker tricks. He may have won a few bonus points by trying a double S-Bend as his wildcard trick, which ended up giving him a slight concussion. Mike Vestal, the top crossover athlete took home top honors and a jacket for cable wakeskate, while also finishing 3rd in Sunday's skateboard comp. Savannah Barber showed up last year's terrific performance with a second place finish, while Mario Deleon earned his first podium spot on Saturday.
The final Saturday event, to be held as the temperatures dropped, was the Pro Cable Wakeboard division. Tom Fooshee stuck a 313 off a kicker as well as a double s-bend in the flats. When it was all said and done Chris Ramirez had to settle for a second, 2nd place finish after 2 wins in 2004. The 5 cable riders in this division showed the chilled crowd why cable wakeboarding has a big future.
Sunday brought a whole different day, with the sun shining and the wind calm, Skaters prepared to compete while over 60 riders used the cablelake throughout the day, including most of Saturday's wake competitors. The Skateboarders were broke into three divisions where youth prevailed. Seven-year-old Rye Beres won the 13 and under division, while 13 year old Garret Young won the 14 and over division. Each athlete competed against skaters that were much older, and each easily won their division. The future is bright for Texas skateboarding. As if that were not enough, the sponsored division was won by Rye's older brother, Reney Berres. Reney, only 12 years old, killed it on the TSR skatepark and left no question who was walking away with the biggest check. Justin Delgado, Mike Vestal, Cody Dasher, Brent Everett all skated well to finish out the top 5. The TSR skate team was excited to have a great showing on their home park and have 3 of the top 5 placewinners in the sponsored division. With the perfect day for a skateboard competition, the 2005 FreeZride came to an end with 8 first time champions, each earning a FreeZride jacket by winning their event in wake or skate. TSR will definitely bring the FreeZride back in 2006, despite the cold rainy weather that has seemed to become expected for the wake events.
TSR would like to thank our sponsors that helped us put on the 2005 FreeZride: MasterCraft, Liquid Force, Jet Pilot, Burger King, 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.
Saturday Pro Boat Wakeboard:
1. Joey Arciz
2. Chris Ramirez
3. Brian Sasser
4, Dustin Swafford
5. Dustin Shows
6. Joey Bradley
7. Ryan Anderson
8. Justin Harrleson
9. Hank Carter
10. Jack Scanio
11. Richie McKee
12.Lucas Snider
13. Emily Copeland
14. Tom Fooshee
15. Mitch Bergsma
16. Mark Barrington
17. James Carrol
Pro Boat WakeSkate:
1. Joshua Steele
2. Jerry Lafferty
3. Sammy Woodson
4. Savannah Barber
5. Jesse Landry
Pro Cable WakeSkate:
1. Mike Vestal
2. Savannah Barber
3. Mario Deleon
4. Jerry Lafferty
5. Brett Little
6. Jesse Landry
7. Corey Whitely
8. Josh Wright
Adv Cable Wakeboard:
1. Derrick Lenz
2. James Carrol
3. Earl Ball
4. Carter Collins
5. Whit Finley
6. Dustin Shows
7. Hunter Brack
8. Clint Gee
9. Garrett Kopecki
10. Nick Gregory
11. Tony Salvador
Pro Cable WakeBoard:
1. Tom Fooshee
2. Chris Ramirez
3. Josh Wright
4. Josh Rice
5. Kyle Reed
Sunday Sponsored Skateboard:
1. Raney Beres
2. Justin Delgado
3. Mike Vestal
4. Cody Dasher
5. Brent Everett
6. Jerry Lafferty
7. Corey Kenaley
8. Carlos Gonzales
9. Danny Knight
10T. Javier Alonso
10T. Encarnacion Perez
--- Steve Moreno
14 and up Skateboard:
1. Garrett Young
2. Javier Meraz
3. Brandon Bussey
4. Mike Newmann
5. Cory Hardy
6. Patrick Stevinson
7. Jake Dunlap
8T. Santiago Ramos
8T. Brandon Forester
10. Zac Saunders
11. Jarred Popham
12. Greg Forester
13. David Sotelo
14. Michael Raetzsch
15. Andy Velasquez
13 and under Skateboard:
1. Rye Beres
2. Charlie Johnson
3. Anthony Burchell
4. Bingo Clepper
