MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour

Acworth, GA

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Big Upsets as MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour Kicks Off

  Big upsets today as the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour kicked off its 2006 season in Acworth, Georgia outside of Atlanta.  In a new format where riders are seeded, the #1, #2, and #4 seeds all fell on one side of the bracket. The upsets all occurred in bracket B where #1 seed Brett Eisenhauer, #2 seed Phillip Soven and #4 seed Chad Sharpe failed to advance to the elite eight.

Pulling the upsets were #8 seed Jeff Weatherall knocking off Eisenhauer, #15 seed Shaun Murray who is competing after a two-year layoff from competition beating Soven while #5 seed JD Webb topping Sharpe.  Weatherall and Webb both advanced to the round of eight, while Murray was eliminated in the second round of the day by #10 seed Shane Bonifay.

In this year’s pro men format, each rider in the field of 32 is placed into two 16-seeded brackets. Each is then seeded from the current rankings and competes in a format similar to the NCAA basketball tournament.

While Bracket B was filled with high seeds going down, Bracket A played out without much drama. The top 4 seeds, Daniel Watkins, Andrew Adkison, Danny Harf and Erik Ruck all advanced on their side of the bracket.  Watkins, who’s the overall number one seed of the contest, easily won his two match-ups today.

Defending Tour champion Josh Sanders would have been the number one seed this weekend, but he’s out due to a knee injury. Sanders is expected back within 6-8 weeks.

Corey Bradley, who’s an Atlanta native and attended North Hall High School in Gainesville, Georgia, made it into today’s round of 32 but was eliminated in the round by 8th seeded Jeff Weatherall of New Zealand.

On the women’s side, Orlando, Florida native Dallas Friday continued her dominance of the women’s field. She easily advanced to the finals winning her heat with a score of 56.67. Friday won most of the championships on the women’s side last year taking home the Tour title, the WWA Nationals and the Pan Am championship. Emily Copeland Durham, who upset Friday for the World title in ’05, also won her heat today setting up a possible match-up of the two top elite women riders in the world in tomorrow’s finals.

In the pro wakeskate division, defending tour champion Brandon Thomas picked off where he left off last year winning his heat with a score of 83.33. Thomas will be joined in the semifinal round with many top stars on the Sea-Doo Wakeskate Tour including Phillip Basino, Brian Grubb and Reed Hansen.  All won their respective heats today.

For the Rip It JX-Series, amateur riders 18 and under, two local riders moved into the finals.  Brett Lee and Rhett Whatley, both from the Atlanta area, took second place in their respective heats today, just good enough to advance into the final of eight.

MasterCraft is the exclusive towboat for the Pro Tour as it has been since the Tour's wakeboarding events began in 1992. Indmar Marine Engines provides the power for MasterCraft's line of competition towboats, the X Series.

The MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour is a five-event circuit organized by World Sports & Marketing of Orlando, Florida. The Pro Tour has the support of the following: Verizon Wireless, U.S Air Force, Circuit City, Rip It Energy Fuel, Sea Doo watercraft, Billabong, Hyperlite Wakeboards, Perfect Pass, Infinity Marine Audio, Liquid Force, Gator Boards, CWB, J-Star, Oakley, Reef, Epiphone Guitars, Wakeworld.com, Wakeboarder.com, and One Percent Design.

Rip It energy fuel is the exclusive sponsor of the JX Series, the proving ground for amateur male riders 18-under. WakeBoarding, published by World Publications, is the official magazine of the Pro Wakeboard Tour. WakeBoarding magazine is the definitive source on all things wakeboarding, with expert coverage of professional instruction, gear, boats and the latest news.


Pro Men Round of 16 (seed in parenthesis)

Bracket A:

(1) Daniel Watkins        100

(8) Keith Lyman           90

(4) Erik Ruck               100

(5) Rusty Malinoski      90

(3) Danny Harf 100

(6) Gabe Lucas            90

(2) Andrew Adkison     100

(10) Nick Heaney         90

Bracket B:

(8) Jeff Weatherall        96

(1) Brett Eisenhauer      94

(5) JD Webb                100

(4) Chad Sharpe           90

(3) Tino Santori            95.5

(6) Trevor Hansen        94.5

(10) Shane Bonifay       100

(15) Shaun Murray       90

Pro Men Round of 32 (seed in parenthesis)

Bracket A:

(1) Daniel Watkins        97.5

(16) Aaron Rathy         92.5

(8) Keith Lyman           97.5

(9) Colin Harrington      92.5

(5) Rusty Malinoski      100

(12) Jimmy Wolf           90

(4) Erik Ruck               100

(13) Tim Keepers         90

(6) Gabe Lucas            100

(11) Derek Grasman     90

(3) Danny Harf 100

(14) Jeff House 90

(10) Nick Heaney         100

(7) Brian Francis           90

(2) Andrew Adkison     100

(15) Rob Jacques         90

Bracket B:

(1) Brett Eisenhauer      100

(16) Josh Palma            90

(8) Jeff Weatherall        100

(9) Corey Bradley        90

(5) JD Webb                100

(12) Shawn Watson      90

(4) Chad Sharpe           100

(13) Adam Wensink     90

(6) Trevor Hansen        100

(11) Chris O’Shea        90

(3) Tino Santori            100

(14) Philip Combs        90

(10) Shane Bonifay       97.5

(7) Dean Smith 92.5

(15) Shaun Murray       95.5

(2) Philip Soven            94.5

Pro Women Semifinals (top two advance in each heat to finals)

Heat #1

1. Emily Copeland Durham       52.78

2. Melissa Marquardt   43.89

3. Maeghan Major        35.67

4. Hayley Smith            30.00

Heat #2

1. Dallas Friday            56.67

2. Lauren Loe               42.44

3. Laura Lohrmann       39.22

4. Gretchen Hammarberg          34.44

Pro Wakeskate Semifinals (top two advance in each heat to finals)

Heat #1

1. Reed Hansen            81.67

2. Clint Tompkins         70.00

3. Kyle Hyams 56.67

4. Jesse Landry            36.67

Heat #2

1. Phillip Basino            66.67

2. David Hanson           56.67

3. Sammy Woodson     40.00

4. Tim Kovacich           13.33

Heat #3

1. Brian Grubb 85.00

2. Aaron Rathy 76.67

3. Scott Byerly 60.00

4. Ryan Doyle              51.67

Heat #4

1. Brandon Thomas      83.33

2T. George Daniels       63.00 (both advance)

2T. Nick Taylor            63.00 (both advance)

4. E. Buonanotte           30.00

Jr Men Semifinals (top two advance in each heat to finals)

Heat #1

1. Bryan Hutton            71.67

2. Brett Lee                  63.22

3. Ryan Mocerino         53.89

4. Kyle Alberts 51.67

Heat #2

1. Ryan Anderson         63.33

2. Rhett Whatley           56.78

3. Robby Carter           44.33

4. Andrew Dyrhood     37.78

Heat #3

1. Jimmy Lariche          69.44

2. Alex Hamrick           49.44

3. Danny Thollander     41.11

4. Julian Cohen 16.67

Heat #4

1. Adam Errington        56.89

2. Bradey Price            43.00

3. Austin Hair               39.56

4. Eddie Valdez            38.89

Patrick Wampler

Public Relations Manager

World Publications, LLC

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Winter Park, FL 32789

407-571-4622