Wakestock 08 Finals - Canadians Take Charge

Canadians Charge to Victory on Wakestock Final Day!

(Toronto, ON) July 27, 2008 – Home country favourites Rusty Malinoski and Aaron Rathy charged through to epic wins over defending champions Phillip Soven and Keith Lidberg in the Wakestock 2008 Expression Session and Rail Championship events respectively. The wins capped an unbelievable four days of intense action both on and off the water at Wakestock, an event known equally for its challenging, world leading rails and demanding party schedule.

The hotly contested Wakestock Malibu Expression Session, part of the WWAWorld Series featured Malinoski, Soven, Rathy and Andrew Adkison in a four man super final. Malinoski, Soven and Rathy each stood up strong runs and double-ups making the scoring tight; Malinoski stuck a Backside 7 off the double-up, while Soven stomped a Toeside 9 and Rathy hit a Heelside 9. The difference though was Wakestock’s big, technical rail course which played to Malinoski and Rathy’s strengths. Both posted smooth, impressive slides over the three big 100-foot rails. Malinoski was able to stay close to Soven with big wake tricks to take the win by a decisive 12.5 point margin, while Soven nosed out Rathy by 3 points. Andrew Adkison struggled with a fall off the big Double- Kinked A-Frame rail and was never able to get back into contention. Thailand’s “Bomb”, Jaemjan Padwat tied for 5th with American Trevor Hansen while Australians Dean Smith and Daniel Watkins
tied for 7th to round out the top eight.

The Wakestock Billabong Railslide Championshipfeatured Aaron Rathy in his second final four appearance of the weekend, up against rail course destroyer and the three-time defending champion Keith Lidberg, the hard charging JD Webb and the ultra-smooth Collin Harrington. Lidberg had been ruling the Wakestock rails all

through the preliminary rounds, but in the finals struggled to hold his slides over the entire length of the big rails. That left the door open for Rathy, Harrington and Webb.
In the end it came down to two-pass consistency on the five rail course which demanded a three foot ollie onto the 100 foot Roof Top Step-Up rail; Rathy was just that much more consistent than the others to grab his first ever Wakestock Rail title, followed by Harrington, Webb and Lidberg. Shane Bonifay and Raphael Derome tied for 5th and Rusty Malinoski and Jimmy Lariche tied for 7th to
round out the top eight.

Wakeskaters had two dedicated events to contest at Wakestock for the first time: the Billabong Wakeskate boat contest presented by Monster Energy, and the Oakley Wakeskate Pool Jam. The Billabong Wakekskate four man final featured defending Wakestock champion Brain Grubb up against Reed Hansen, the 2007 Wakestock champion, Danny Hampson, who is enjoying a strong come-back year and Stuart Shinn, one of the sport’s rising talents. Despite being the first rider off the dock, Shinn threw down an incredibly technical run including a wake-to-wake Heelside Shuv-it to Mute, a wake-to-wake Heelside Late Shuv and wake-to-wake Frontside 360 and a wake-to-wake Backside Bigspin for the last trick in his run. Hampson, Hansen and Grubb all had falls in their runs and ended up fourth, third and second respectively.

The Oakley Wakeskate Pool Jamwas once again the most innovative event of the weekend incorporating an all-new pool and rail layout designed by Pat Panakos from aBox Productions and featuring the world debut of the new Sesitec System 2.0 portable cable system from Germany. This year’s Oakley Pool launched wakeskaters down a three-rail, 10-stair set into the main water course. The
reversible System 2.0 cable system pulled the riders 500 feet across the water course and then back to the pool allowing for a series of additional flatwater wakeskate tricks after stomping the rails.

The Oakley Wakeskate Pool Jam contest consisted of four different, $1250 best trick contests, all uniquely rider judged. Reed Hansen stomped a Backside Lipslide to win best trick on the challenging Down-Flat Rail. Chase Gregory landed a Backside Boardside to Switch Frontside Boardslide to 90 out win best trick on the Step-Down Ledge. Ben Horan styled out a locked-in Backside Noseslide to
win best trick on the Down Rail. Matt Manzari stomped a Varial Flip down the 10-set staircase to win the best trick down the Stair Gap.

Wakestock’s famed music and party program was elevated by the support of Monster Energy this year. Monster threw down for two swank pro athlete receptions featuring killer DJs Matt The Alien and Vinyl Ritchie, the Monster Girls, Monster boat shuttles and limos and plenty of flow with drinks and food. Add to that three Bud Light After-Parties, plus the Bud Light Bikini Contest, and it was all-time on the party front at Wakestock this year. For photos and video footage from one of the
Monster Pro Athlete & VIPReceptions check-out www.sbcwakeboard.com.
The TELUS Music Stagepresented by Monster Energy delivered what had to be Wakestock’s most exciting and diverse music line-up ever. Highlights included; cousins RZAand GZA, forefathers of the Wu Tang Clan, one of the most critically acclaimed and celebrated hip hop groups of all time; Florida’s reunited post-hardcore legends Hot Water Music; Cavalera Conspiracy, the new project by
brothers Igor and Max Cavalera of Sepultura fame; and Canada’s pop rock superstars Metric.

Other Wakestock highlights included skate demos by the Globe International Skate Team including Chris Haslam at Wakestock’s RGX skatepark and Milk Mini-Ramp; as well as the Schick Xtreme 3 Freestyle Moto-x, Canada’s largest freestyle moto-x showcase.

For more info: www.wakestock.com and www.sbcwakeboard.com. Media Inquiries: media@wakestock.com Wakestock is presented by Bud Light and TELUS; in association with Monster Energy, Billabong, Oakley, Malibu Boats, Right Guard Xtreme (RGX), Milk (Dairy Farmers of Canada), PlayStation,Schick Xtreme 3, Yamaha, Gordon Bay Marine, and Paris Marine in partnership with Much Music, 102.1 the Edge, Eye Weekly, The Score, Live Nation, SBC Skateboard Magazine and SBC Wakeboard Magazine.

Wakestock™is owned and produced by SBC Events Inc, an independent Canadian production company specializing in action sport & youth lifestyle marketing, in association with SBC Media Inc., publisher of leading action sports magazines SBC Skateboard, SBC Wakeboard, Snowboard Canada, SBC Surf, SBC Skier, Snowboard Women’s Annual, SBC Ski & Snowboard Resort Guide, SBC Kiteboard, Windsport, SBC Action Sports Business magazines. “Wakestock™” "Wakestock Festival™” and “Wakestock Action Sports & Music Festival™” are trademarks of SBC Media Inc. in Canada, the United States and/or other countries.

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