(THIS CONTEST ENDED ON 9/1/07)
Riders Choice Awards Archives:
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Another year and another extremely loud voice coming from you, the WakeWorld readers! It's always great to see how eager the world wake community is to make their voices heard and make a statement about the riders and products that make up wakeboarding. 
2007 Is no exception. We received a steady avalanche of ballot submissions throughout the month of August, so now we're ready to bust out YOUR results in our seventh annual Riders Choice Awards.
In addition to making a statement, each entrant got the chance to pick up some free wake goodies from CWB Board Co., Ten-80, Spy and Sidewayz.
As you can see from the prize list below, CWB Board Co., our presenting sponsor, hooked up our winners in a big way with all kinds of equipment, while our other sponsors will make sure our winners look stylish and have plenty to do when they're off the water! Check your email inbox to see if you're the winner of one of the following prizes...
- CWB Faction wakeboard
- CWB Faction bindings
- CWB Deck wakeskate
- CWB Tsunami Wakesurf board
- CWB Faction life vest
- Proline LG handle and mainline
- 5 Ten-80 boardshort/belt/shirt/hat packages
- 5 pair of Spy sunglasses
- 20 Sidewayz DVD's
So what do the results look like for 2007? Well, we've got some things that may surprise you and others that just seem to be set in stone. As far as the Top Male Wakeboarders go, after ousting Parks Bonifay in 2006, Danny Harf had a short-lived run at the top as Rusty Malinoski takes over the #1 spot, leaping up four places from his #5 spot last year. Danny didn't fall far and managed to keep himself in the top two. The other big leap was Phillip Soven moving up three spots from #6 in 2006 to #3 in 2007.
It's bittersweet news for the Bonifay family as Shane lands above big brother Parks for the first time in the history of the Riders Choice Awards. We also saw mainstay Shawn Watson disappear from the top-ten rankings (falling to #11) and the legendary Randall Harris make his first-ever appearance in the top ten.
In the Top Female Wakeboarders category, Amber Wing continues her climb toward the top, landing in the #3 position after first joining the top five just last year. Falling out of the top five for the first time since we started the Riders Choice Awards back in 2001 is Tara Hamilton. Taking her place is Nor Cal newcomer, Raequel Hoffman. In the "no surprise" department, Dallas topped the list again despite being out all year with an injury!
Danny Hampson clawed his way back into the Top Wakeskaters category after taking a year off in 2006. Also joining the top five is World Champion Reed Hansen at the #4 position. George Daniels and Brandon Thomas dropped out of the top five after first joining it in 2006. Brian Grubb continues his streak in the #1 position, which he's held since the Riders Choice Awards began.
It was another no-brainer in the Rookie of the Year category as Adam Errington impressed the voters with his leap from Jr. Men to a top ten pro ranking in 2007. The Hoffman sisters were the runners up with Raequel coming in just ahead of younger sister Shawna.
I'm going to make you click the link to find out who the Most Improved Rider is, but I will say that he's only the second rider to win this award two years in a row, which is probably why he's ranked so high on the Top Male Wakeboarders list.
Now let's take a look at the 2007 products. Last year was the first year ever that we had one rider's pro model sweep both the Wakeboard of the Year and Binding of the Year categories when the Liquid Force Watson dominated. Well, this year it happened again, but the pro model belonged to a different rider. This year, Ronix shareholder Danny Harf topped both lists with his One pro models. I'm sure the board of directors at Square One will slip a few extra shares of ownership Danny's way for all his hard work! Liquid Force did manage to pick up the two runners up to round out the top three.
In its first year of production, the Byerly Legacy landed Wakeskate of the Year honors pushing Hyperlite out of the top spot. However, Hyperlite did hold on to the top spot in the Wakesurf Board of the Year category with a couple of Liquid Force boards rounding out the top three.
The Boat of the Year category had no surprises as the same three boats rose to the top as they have since the Riders Choice Awards began. The Innovation of the Year race gave newcomer Slingshot the top spot for their flex boards. Finally, Liquid Force Films grabbed the Video of the Year spotlight for their latest team video.
Be sure to click on the links below to see the full results for every category and jump on the links at the top of each page if you want to see the Riders Choice Awards for the previous six years. Thanks to everybody that submitted a vote and to all the sponsors that provided such great prizes!
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