Wake the Line is on for Today, July 4th, so we wanted to bring you an update on the results from Friday’s qualifying rounds and Saturday’s practice sessions.
Friday was a cable comp for two qualifying spots, with Andy Gnidowisk (wakeskate) and Felix Georgii (wakeboard) grabbing the wild cards. It was followed by the riders party at Langenfeld, one of the world’s largest cable parks with four full-size cable systems. Twelve riders pulled jerseys with another riders name on it out of a bag to determine who they would ride against on Sunday, and this is the prevailing line up:
Wakeskate:
Andy Gnidowski (WC) – Nick Taylor
Andy Kolb – Jan Kissmann
Leo Labadens – Ben Horan
Kevin Calvez – Aaron ReedAs you can see their are some pretty spectacular match ups, including French Canadian rail sensation Oliver Derome against his younger brother Raphael.
Wakeboard:
Felix Georgii (WC) – Kevin Henshaw
Oliver Derome – Raphael Derome
Eddi Valdez – Nico Lerchenfeld
Steffen Vollert – Keith Lideberg
Daniel Fetz – Tom Fooshee
Nate Perry – Parks Bonifay
Marc Rossiter – Bernhard Hinterberger
Daniel Grant – Shawn Watson
Saturdays practice sessions were intense and once again System 2.0 showed the industry what is possible. Unit park tech and Sesitec teamed up to create a super progressive rail set up, with transfers to metal handrails out of elevated pools to a massive quarter pipe at the end of the run. “The expressions on the rider’s faces when they showed up and saw the set up was priceless,” said Judge Pat Panakos.
Here’s a firt-hand update from Pat on what happened during the practice rounds:
” The practice sessions reminded me of Red Bull Wake Lab, with each rider trying to figure out their lines coming into the half pipe. Everyone was killing it. Raph Derome was murdering the course like he has been riding on it for years. Once they got used to the half pipe we saw some melon grabs out of the half and most notably, Oliver Derome’s hand plant. By far the most progressive runs were laid down by Daniel Fetz and Keith Lidberg who were gaping from the kicker over the pool to the metal hand rail. Unfortunately we also saw some massive wrecks. Tom Fooshee busted his incisor trying a front side 180 on the half pipe. Keith Lidberg recieved a free ride to the hospital and some good medication from his attempt to toeside backside 180 nose taping the barrel set up off the kicker. Today should prove to be monumental for our sport with some never before seen tricks in wake on the Unit / Sesitec Quarter pipe.”
Be sure to check back for the final results from Wake the Line, or watch it live on freecaster.tv.
