Southeast Texas Wakeboarding (SETx) proved once again that if you want to ride in a grassroots tournament, their Mid-Summer Classic is the place to be! The 90-acre private wakeboard lake was fully set up by Friday afternoon and the riders were ready to rip by 9am on Saturday. Steadily becoming coined as a "rider's tournament," the riding level was the best ever in the six-year history of the event.

As always, the event kicked off on Friday night at the Crockett Street Entertainment District of downtown Beaumont. With a variety of establishments to choose from, everyone usually finds their place on Crockett Street. "Beware and be prepared if you're going out to Crockett. If you don't watch out, it could make for an unpleasant Saturday morning to say the least. Did we mention Cooter Brown is a six-year regular at the Mid-Summer Classic?" joked Jeff Drost, SETx advertising executive.

"We're riders ourselves so we understand the importance of having a consistent and accurate pull. That's one of the most important things as far as a tournament is concerned, so that's what we intend to provide," commented Joe Nichols, SETx operations manager. The crew worked hard to get everything dialed in before each rider went off the dock. The wake, the speed, the butter were all in tune for one awesome competition. There were no complaints to be heard by any of the riders. "We feel like we've got everything on lock-down at this point. You can't say enough about a good crew and if there is anything at SETx, it's fine people willing to help manage an amazing event," commented Elliott Dollar, SETx event coordinator. Competing at this years' event, there was a total attendance of 58 riders ranging from throughout the region and the world. Members of M2 Sports' international team, Andreas Kjargaard and Julie Luchow, rode in the event and both riders are from Denmark!

Saturday morning rolled about as smooth as one could hope for. The SETx boys had the first rider off the dock by 9:15am (which is good considering the Friday night festivities) and quickly blew through 20 Novice riders and 12 Advanced riders just in time for an early afternoon shower, specifically requested by SETx. This item on the menu was ordered to ensure a cool evening and butter-like conditions for the upcoming shred-fest scheduled with the Expert and Outlaw levels.

The Vitals: 2008 Malibu VLX + 340hp + 3500# of ballast + Wedge + 14.5x14.25" prop = 14 second plane-out time or 13 tricks/run. That is, if you get as busy as Mitch Bergsma (you should see this guy ride!), Anyway, long-story-short, the wake was cresting over knee-high and riders had a substantial amount of time to nail their tricks down one-by-one.

The progressive format on the day showcased a touch of higher-level competition among our Outlaw riders. With the 2 pass-3 fall rule in effect and a preliminary round to navigate, you could see the guys really start strategizing their runs to ensure their spots in the finals. As each rider hopped off the dock, the bar kept getting set higher and higher. 12 Outlaw riders entered but only 6 remained.

After it was all said and done, it was Mitch Bergsma's variety of tricks that outweighed any other performance of the day. Although, Erik Nikstad and Justin Harrelson were close on his heels, Mitch was able to be last rider off the dock and still hold it together. Between Harrelson's Whirly 5 and Nikstad's switch ts 7, he had his work cut out for sure!

Outlaw Winners: Erik Nikstad, Mitch Bergsma and Justin Harrelson

1. Mitch Bergsma

• Mute 180
• Method Half Cab wing
• S-Bend
• Batwing (sick grab)
• Mute OA HS 540
• Switch Roll-2-Blind (fall)
• KGB
• Nose grab Slim Chance
• Batwing-2-Blind
• Switch Tootsie Roll

  Novice Winner: Braxton Feemster

• Crow Mobe
• Switch Melan crow
• TS 720
• HS crail grab
• D-Up: HS 9 (Fall)

• Switch TS OA 720 (fall)
• Nuclear Glide
• Tootsie Roll
• Skeezer
• Batwing with crail grab
• Seatbelt Tantrum
• Switch TS OA 540
• Switch TS OA 720
• TS BS 180 (Fall)
• Melan Moby Dick

  Advanced Winners: John Powell, Chase Mobley and Caden Welch

• Nosegrab TS FS 540
• HS OA FS 540
• Batwing-2-Blind
• D-Up: HS FS 720 (fall)

• S-Bend
• TS FS melan 540
• Tantrum-2-Blind
• TS BS indy 180
• Whirly
• Air Roll-2-Revert
• Tootsie Roll
• Skeezer (fall)
• Skeezer
• A-frame: Back Board
• Whirly 540
• D-Up: HS FS nose 360

In southeast Texas, it doesn't take much to form a good weekend. A few friends, a few boats and flat water...DONE. That's how it went down at this year's Mid-Summer Classic (which offers yet another notch in SETx's belt of great events). With the exception of a short mid-day shower or two, the SETx crew orchestrated the day perfectly. It amounted to approximately 40 gallons of gas, 64 pulls, several cases of Red Bull and too many good times to count!

We couldn't have made it happen without our dedicated sponsors, so we'd like to send a special thank you out to title sponsor Darryl Moore's Marine. Those boys really make it happen for us and we appreciate those Malibu boats. Prizes and more were provided by Don Burnett (thanks big dawg!), WakeWorld.com, Lucky Devil Designs, Cowboy Honda, M2Sports.com, Hyperlite, Wake2WakeSports.com, Custom Sign Builders, 1800trampoline.com, Buywake.com, Beaumont Conventions & Visitors Bureau, GCWA and Rose City Sand. Thanks for helping make an awesome event come to life. See you next year!

Results

Novice: presented by Buywake.com
1. Braxton Feemster
2. Kohl Sasik
3. Cody Malin

Advanced: presented by M2sports.com
1. Chase Mobley
2. John Powell

Expert Winners: Senter Henry, Vic Sanchez and Justin Troth

Expert: presented by Wake2WakeSports.com
1. Vic Sanchez
2. Senter Henry
3. Justin Troth

Outlaw: presented by SETx Wakeboarding
1. Mitch Bergsma
2. Erik Nikstad
3. Justin Harrelson
4. Eric Deegan
5. Andreas Kjargaard
6. Keith Holly

Wakeskate: presented by SETx Wakeboarding
1. Erik Nikstad
2. John Phillips
3. Ben Mize