New Wake Team Member, Austin Hair

The Wake Games were a pretty big deal this year in Orlando. Almost 200 competitors came to this event to compete. Its a different type of contest because every rider who makes it past the first round qualifies and is assigned to a team. There are ten team captains, and these are the pros who finished top 10 in the king of wake series last year. The captains choose 2 other pros and 7 other riders from different divisions. It creates an good atmosphere of sportsmanship at the competition, and is a great way for the amateurs to get to know some of the pros. Not to mention there is a $10 grand prize pack for the winner.


The first day they only took the top 20 pro's from about 70 who went out to qualify. I won my heat the first day and secured a spot in the contest. I was drafted onto Daniel Watkins team, along with Erick Ruck and some people from the other divisions. We had a pretty strong looking team, but Philip Soven and Shaun Murray were looking pretty good as well, with both of them having some of the top amateurs.


On Saturday I was a little bit nervous, but was able to put together a pretty good run, with tricks like backside 5, pete, and back mobe. I stood up my pass all the way until the very last trick in my second pass. It wasn't quite enough to take down Rusty or Dean Smith, who both stood up their entire passes, landing 7's and 9's. I ended up 3rd in the heat, with Shaun Watson and Mike Marsh right behind me. My teammates, Daniel and Ruck, didn't qualify for Sunday either. Our team wasn't looking too hot.


Shaun and Philip both racked up some major points in the amateur division, putting them in the top two. Shaun Murray's team had the lead on Sunday, and it would all come down to the fact that Phil would have to win. Rusty stood up his pass, again, in the finals, landing a backside 7 off the double up. Phil was the last rider off the dock. He stood up his entire pass as well, especially riding good on the rails, and it looked like he was going to taste another victory. Then, unexpectedly, he missed the boot off the double up and pulled a backside 5 where he was meant to do a back 7. It was enough for Rusty to claim gold, and also allowing Shaun Murray and his team to win Wake Games 08 and the $10K prize purse.



Austin,
Team SR