Protest European Boardstock 2007 Roundup
For the 6th year in a row, the French Wakeboard Association organized a massive 2007 edition for the already very famous Protest European Boardstock. Even though the weather forecast was worse than it should have been in such a season, almost 60 riders entered the event.
They came from all over the world to come to ride Toulouse - Sesquires Cable Lake. And this years edition was more then a fulfilled riders dream with its MasterCraft Pool Gap, a boat expo, Exo winches, a 60 foot long pool, 9 obstacles around the lake, DJs, a restaurant, a bar, more and more reasons for the crowd and the riders not to get bored during the four days of the event.
Straight back from the Nokia FISE in Montpellier, the best riders came to Toulouse. Daniel Fetz, from Austria, Marc Rossiter and Jonty Green, from UK, Enrique Dosta and Luis Becqueriaux, from Spain, Chase Gregory, from the USA, Ludovico Vanoli, from Italy, Gal Kohli, from Switzerland, Emil Tzolov, from Bulgaria.
They all came to take part to the contest and compete against the local riders: Bertrand Oustrires and Lo Labadens, but also the other favorite French riders Laurent Peyrichou and Loc Lebras.
With 4 days of trainings, the non stop challenges and the 10 000 prize money to be shared between the different categories, the contest was announced as one of the most amazing ones ever. The promise was kept by the riders! On Thursday the official trainings started on the especially prepared cable park. 3 different kickers, 2 fun boxes, 1 slider, 2 other sliders for the MasterCraft Pool Gap All these obstacles were making it hard for the riders to get their passes ready for the competition. On Friday Morning, more than 55 riders are ready for the contest qualifyings in 7 different categories. The level of those was already amazing. As the day passed, the pressure had gone so high that the rain didnt stop most riders who wanted to keep training for the rest of the comp.
On Saturday Morning, the rain had changed the whole place in a mud pond. Finals had to be delayed to the Sunday. Amateur categories finales did take place though with a few amazing tricks from the Open Men especially. On Sunday, the sun had come back. The whole thing started with the most amazing wakeskate finales ever! Here is a list of a few tricks to help you understand:
- Switch FS 540 on the kicker for Bertrand Oustrires
- 360 shuv-it on the kicker for Ludovico Vanoli
- Boardslide big spin back out on the slider for Lo Labadens
- FS Boardslide 270 out on the fun box for Chase Gregory
- BS 360 on the kicker for Dennis Knasiak
- Massive switch FS big spin for Jrme Ruffray...
Then, the Kicker Contest came with massive technical tricks for most of the riders to announce the Pro Men Finales, the main category of this Protest European Boardstock 2007. Two runs for each rider, a wild card for those who didnt fall. Imagine the suspense among the 8 riders. Laurent Peyrichou broke his board during his second run, Bertrand Oustrires tempted to do a double S-bend to blind as a wild card
The sky was getting more and more cloudy as the end of the day was approaching. The time was getting shorter for the riders to do their best to compete in the last contest of the day, the MasterCraft Pool Gap. Chase Gregory won the wakeskate category and Laurent Peyrichou won the wakeboard category with a BS Lispslide on the handrail. The AFW would like to thank the riders, the TNS and AFW crews, Protest, MasterCraft, Sport Import, DVS, www.rider-discount.com, Sport+, Game One, NRJ, 20 Minutes, Sport, Sportmag, www.wakeboardmag.net, 313, Unleashed
