What a year for Hyperlite on the 2008 MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour! July 13, 2008 was the final Tour stop held Reno, and it marked the end of one of the best seasons ever witnessed:

Today in Reno in the Pro Men Division, both JD Webb and Aaron Rathy were in the finals. Rathy had just come off a 2nd place finish in Portland three weeks prior, and JD had finished in 3rd at Phoenix just two weeks ago. They were both hungry for the podium and were riding hard to get there. Rathy showed off his super technical run with both a Pete Rose and a switch Pete and back 5. And JD blew every rider away with a nose slide transfer to a tail slide, up and down the rooftop rail – it was one of the smoothest and most styley slides anyone had seen all tour. With their solid riding Rathy ended up grabbing 3rd place, and JD nabbed 2nd place.

In the Pro Women division, Nicola butler continued to show everyone why she is the one to watch this year on tour. She killed it on rails: back lipping the rooftop and transferring the A Frame just like the Pro Men. Nicola wowed the crowd and the judges and was awarded 2nd place.

Finally, in the Junior Men’s Division, the race for 1st between Jimmy LaRiche and Harley was going on as usual. Jimmy laid down a great run with huge airs, and big spins. But after an uncharacteristic fall from his 270 transfer on the A frame, he charged into his double up and threw down a huge heelside 900 with so much pose and authority that it pushed him into 1st place for the 4th stop in a row!

It was an incredible day for Hyperlite. Now, with the Pro Wakeboard Tour over, and the points tallied, an award ceremony was held this past Sunday night to congratulate the best riders from the year and their accomplishments. Here are the accolades for our Hyperlite riders:

Pro Men:
--JD Webb – 2nd place overall PWT finish. (His podium today just pushed him past Rusty for his best overall finish of his career)
--Rusty Malinoski – 3rd Place overall PWT finish
--Aaron Rathy – 8th Place overall PWT finish
--Kyle Alberts - Rookie of the Year

Pro Women:
--Nicola Butler – 1st place overall PWT finish (first women’s rider ever to win 5 stops in a row!!!)

Jr Men:
--Jimmy LaRiche – 1st place overall (after finishing 2nd last year, Jimmy stepped it up and took home the overall victory. He now moves on into Pro Men next year and can’t wait to try to stand next to JD and Rusty!)
--Ryan King – 4th Place overall PWT finish

Congratulations to all our Hyperlite riders for a great year on the water!