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6/14/2010 12:00:00 PM
NICOLA UNSTOPPABLE AT TEXAS PWT

Fans packed the shores of Lake Moser at Texas MasterCraft to catch the final rounds of action at the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour stop in Fort Worth. Riders spent Saturday battling it out behind the MasterCraft PWT X-Star for wins in the Pro Men and Pro Womens divisions, as well as the Jr. Pro Men.

And the Pro Womens battle was Texas Hot as both former Rookie of the Year Raimi Merritt and former Australian Pro Tour champ Hayley Smith appeared to have the edge in the contest, but is was MasterCrafts Nicola Butler who proved to be unstoppable in Fort Worth, taking her third straight win in the Lone Star State. Merritt and Smith rounded out the contest podium, respectively. Congratulations to Nicola!

The Pro Men kicked off the Saturday action with their quarterfinal round, where 20 riders hit the water in five heats of four. The quarterfinals cut the competition in half, only advancing the top two riders from each heat onto the semifinals.

The semifinals quickly narrowed down the field of riders to setup the six-man final, but not without a massive upset in the process. Aussie phenom and top-seeded rider, Harley Clifford failed to advance past the semifinals, placing fourth in his five-man heat.

The finals pinned Austin Hair, Bryan Hutton, Rusty Malinoski, Phillip Soven, Danny Harf and Olivier Derome against each other in the final round of action. All eyes were on the new top seed, Rusty Malinoski to see if he duplicate his 2007 Fort Worth winning-run, but came up short in the judging to two-time Pro Tour titlist Phillip Soven.

With the second stop of the 2010 season in the books, Soven and Malinoski are now tied at 180 points in the Pro Tour standings, with Soven taking the tie-breaker due to his win today. Harley Clifford now sits in third place with 160 points.

In the Jr. Pro Mens division, riders hit the water in two heats of five for their semifinal round. Only the top two riders from each heat advanced, sending Steel Lafferty, Kyle Evans, Nick Galotifore and Daniel Powers to the four-man final.

All four rippers threw down some series runs, but current Tour leader Nick Galotifore continued to impress the judges to win his second consecutive Pro Tour stop of the season. Lafferty and Evans rounded out the Jr. Pro Mens podium, respectively.

Following Fort Worth, the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour will head to Elizabethtown, KY, on June 18 & 19, for the third stop of 2010 season. Additional venues for the Pro Tour include Colorado Springs, CO and Knoxville, TN.

To catch all the high-flying, rail-sliding, water-sports action of the Fort Worth Pro Tour stop on television, tune in to FUEL TV on Aug. 10 at 8 p.m. EST.

For more information on the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour, including news, daily schedules, tickets, TV info, photos, videos, athlete bios, results, standings and more, visit Allisports.com

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