It was another banner year for the 11th annual WakeWorld Riders Choice Awards presented by CWB Board Co. You, the riders, submitted more votes than ever and we thank you for your efforts!
We've counted up the votes, determined the winners and sent their names off to the guys who etch them into those heavy glass trophies. The only thing left to do is tell you who won...
So what do the results look like for 2011? Some things changed and some things stayed the same. One thing that changed is the addition of three new categories; Rail Rider of the Year, Cable Rider of the Year and Web Video of the Year. Since we now have 15 categories to tell you about, we'd better get started!
The Top Male Wakeboarders stayed the same up at the top, but there was some shuffling throughout the bottom seven as well as two newcomers in Adam Fields (#6) and Dean Smith (#9). Harley Clifford, the first Aussie to ever grab the top spot, has maintained that spot for the seond year in a row.
In the Top Female Wakeboarders category, we again have a repeat at the top and we again have an Aussie at the top in Amber Wing. Last year, Amber became only the second rider to hold the top spot in this category by dethroning Dallas Friday after a run of nine years! This year, Amber has proven it wasn't a fluke. The rest of the field had the same faces, but Dallas and Nicola Butler switched places.
Brian Grubb is another rider who has held the top of his category for nine of the last 10 years, but he drops to second place for 2011 with Reed Hansen becoming the new top dog in Top Wakeskaters category. We also saw Scott Byerly revisiting the top five, after a brief absence, at the expense of Nick Taylor.
He didn't make it into the Top Male Wakeboarders category, but newcomer Steel Lafferty did manage to walk away with the Rookie of the Year.
Meanwhile, Harley Clifford somehow managed to grab a second trophy with the Most Improved Rider Award.
Our two new rider categories include Rail Rider of the Year, which was taken down by Canadian Raphael Derome, and Cable Rider of the Year, which will not surprise too many to find out that Tom Fooshee took top honors.
Shifting from riders to products, this year's Wakeboard of the Year changes hands once again and goes to the most popular name in the Riders Choice Awards for 2011 with the Liquid Force Harley. The Binding of the Year category remains unchanged with the Ronix One sitting in the top spot for the third year in a row. Last year was its first win in the Wakeskate of the Year category, but now the Liquid Force SST has done it two years in a row.
Finally, there was a change in the Wakesurf Board of the Year category for 2011 with the Byerly Hazard leaping from obscurity to the top spot.
The Boat of the Year category had a tremendous upset in 2010 when the MasterCraft X-Star, which had been dominating this category since the current hull hit the market back in 2003, was dethroned by the Malibu Wakesetter VLX. However, 2011 sees the X-Star moving back to the top of the standings.
The Innovation of the Year category is a win for Hyperlite with their new System binding attachment. MasterCraft's Power Tower and Unit Parktech rails came in second and third respectively.
Finally we get to our two video cateogries. The Video of the Year category is for the best full-length DVD release and it goes to CWB's team video, Committed from A.V.E. The Web Video of the Year went to the most impressive video found on the Interweb and that was Notes From Thailand by Andy Kolb.
Be sure to click on the link below to see the full results for every awards category:
2011 WakeWorld Riders Choice Awards
Thanks to everybody that submitted a vote and to all the sponsors that provided such great prizes!
