2015 WAKE AWARDS PREDICTIONS AND WINNERS

"CHECK OUT" AWARD

Year	Winner
2004	JD Webb
2005	Kevin Henshaw
2006	Adam Errington
2007	Jimmy LaRiche
2008	Harley Clifford
2009	Bob Soven
2010	Steel Lafferty
2011	Shota Tezuka
2012	Tony Iacconi
2013	Cory Teunissen
2014	Ben Leclair
2015 Prediction	Nic Rapa
2015 Actual	Guenther Oka

BEST WOMEN'S RIDER

Year	Winner
2006	Dallas Friday
2007	Amber Wing
2008	Nicolar Butler
2009	Dallas Friday
2010	Amber Wing
2011	Amber Wing
2012	Amber Wing
2013	Amber Wing
2014	Meagan Ethell
2015 Prediction	Dallas Friday
2015 Actual	Meagan Ethell

"Check Out" Award Prediction: Nic Rapa has been killing it on the Jr. Pro Tour all season long and he's going to be a big name in the years to come. He's already landed a wake-to-wake 1080 and he's won almost every competition he's enetered this year including the WWA National Championships. We'll be shocked if anyone else is picked here.
Actual Winner: Guenther Oka. We said we would be shocked if anyone other than Nic Rapa was picked here and we are, but we don't think Guenther was unworthy of this award. Guenther did quite well on the Jr. Pro tour scene and he's been having an unbelievable year on the cable, making podium at Triple Crown in California, as well as coming out with one of the best web videos of the year entitled "Endless Summer". We talked with Nic afterward and he stated that he was very excited for Guenther and was not upset about the decision.

Best Women's Rider: This is a tough pick between Meagan Ethell and Dallas Friday, but Dallas has had an unbelievable year, making it on the podium in every competition this year. With three wins, four second place finishes and only one third place finish, Dallas has definitely been the most consistent rider this year. However, in the seven competitions these two have both competed in, Meagan has beaten Dallas in four of them... so... tough pick.
Actual Winner: Meagan Ethell. We knew this was going to be a tough pick and it went in favor of Meagan, most likely due to her amazing performance on the Cable scene, whereas Dallas does not compete in Cable. Meagan also submitted a Roll-to-Blind for Trick of the Year, and won Tige's MyWake Challenge with a perfect Heelside 900 on cable. Congratulations Meagan!

BEST RAIL RIDER

Year	Winner
2004	Parks Bonifay
2005	Shane Bonifay
2006	Shane Bonifay
2007	Keith Lidberg
2008	JD Webb
2009	JD Webb
2010	Raph Derome
2011	Marc Rossiter
2012	Raph Derome
2013	Raph Derome
2014	Graeme Burress
2015 Prediction	Raph Derome
2015 Actual	Raph Derome

BEST WAKE PARK RIDER

Year	Winner
2010	Tom Fooshee
2011	Tom Fooshee
2012	Daniel Grant
2013	Daniel Grant
2014	Daniel Grant
2015 Prediction	Dom Hernler
2015 Actual	Daniel Grant

Best Rail Rider: Raph has already won this award three times, and if you watch "Beyond Perception" you'll understand why. Between that and his Real Wake video that came out this year, Raph is a solid candidate for this award. Other riders that could be selected might be Chris Abadie, Dom Hernler or Daniel Grant.
Actual Winner: Raph Derome.

Best Wake Park Rider: Dom has had an outstanding year after coming back from a torn ACL last year. He's won every competition he's entered this year including FISE, Plastic Playground, and Red Bull Harbour Reach. It would be hard to pick anyone else here.
Actual Winner: Daniel Grant. This one really confuses us. There is no question that Daniel is one of the best cable riders in the world, and he's podiumed in all three competitions he's competed in this year. However, Dom beat Daniel at Plastic Playground and Harbour Reach and also won FISE, which Daniel did not compete in. I'm not sure how you can win the three largest cable competitions of the year and not win this award. During Daniel's acceptance speech, even he said. "I didn't expect to win this".

BEST VIDEO PERFORMANCE

Year	Winner	Video
2005	Shawn Watson	Relentless
2006	Danny Harf	Counterfeit This
2007	Randall Harris	Trangression
2008	Danny Harf	Drive
2009	Danny Harf	Out of the Pond
2010	Harley Clifford	Slick City
2011	Chris O'Shea	In Transit
2012	Danny Harf	Defy
2013	Raph Derome	Raph.
2014	Chris Abadie	Drop the Gun
2015 Prediction	Harley Clifford	PRIME
2015 Actual	Harley Clifford	PRIME

BEST VIDEO

Year	Winner
2005	Relentless
2006	Counterfeit This
2007	The Truth
2008	Push Process
2009	Out of the Pond
2010	Parks Bonifay Documentary
2011	More Than Machines
2012	Defy
2013	-
2014	Drop the Gun
2015 Prediction	PRIME
2015 Actual	PRIME

Best Video / Video Performance: PRIME is incredible. And so is Harley. Just go watch it. No explaination needed.

TRICK OF THE YEAR

Year	Winner	Trick	Video
2004	Shaun Murray	SW 270 Transfer	-
2005	Rusty Malinoski	Backboard Backlip Fox Gap	-
2006	Danny Harf	SW HS FS 1080	[VIDEO]
2007	Chad Sharpe	TS Indy Double Backroll	[VIDEO]
2008	Danny Harf	TS FS 1260	[VIDEO]
2009	Aaron Rathy	Wrapped HS BS 1080	[VIDEO]
2010	Steel Lafferty	TS BS 900	[VIDEO]
2011	Erik Ruck	Mute Back Mobe	[VIDEO]
2012	Harley Clifford	Crow Mobe 900	[VIDEO]
2013	Mike Dowdy	Double Roll-to-Blind	[VIDEO]
2014	Brad Smeele	Double Indy Tantrum-to-Blind	[VIDEO]
2015 Prediction	Cody Hesse	Triple Toeside Backroll	[VIDEO]
2015 Actual	Cody Hesse	Triple Toeside Backroll	[VIDEO]

FEMALE TRICK OF THE YEAR

Year	Winner	Trick	Video
2009	Amber Wing	Heelside 720	[VIDEO]
2010	Amber Wing	Toeside 900	[VIDEO]
2011	-	-	-
2012	Ange Schriber	Heelside 900	[VIDEO]
2013	Bec Gange	Whirlybird 540	[VIDEO]
2014	-	-	-
2015 Prediction	Meagan Ethell	Double Half-Cab Roll	[VIDEO]
2015 Actual	Carro Djupsjo	Double Half-Cab Roll	[VIDEO]

Trick of the Year: There have been more massive tricks that have gone down this year than we've ever seen before but the one that stands out to us, and should stand out to everyone else, is Cody Hesse landing the first ever triple-flip on a wakeboard. This trick is straight up legendary. End of Story.
Actual Winner: Cody Hesse.

Female Trick of the Year: We're predicting Meagan here on the assumption that she has landed another, cleaner double-flip than the one we have on video already. She's had an entire year to land a cleaner one and we know how talented Meagan is, so we'd actually be surprised if she's only landed the one. If she has only landed the one, it'll be a tough decision for this award.
Actual Winner: Carro Djupsjo. Meagan never submitted her double-flip for Trick of the Year, as she claimed that she didn't know she could submit a trick that has already been landed before, referring to Amber Wing's double-flip back in 2013. So the only tricks nominated were Carro's double-flip, Anna's Pete 5, and Meagan Ethell's Roll-to-Blind on boat. While we're stoked on Carro landing a double-flip, the fact that she won for this trick confuses us. The double-flip Carro "landed" was one of the ugliest double-flips we've ever seen, with no grab and completely butt-checked. It would be hard to award someone for "landing" a trick like that, but I guess that's why we're not the ones picking the winners.

BEST WAKEBOARDER

Year	Winner
2004	Parks Bonifay
2005	Danny Harf
2006	Danny Harf
2007	Rusty Malinoski
2008	Rusty Malinoski
2009	Aaron Rathy
2010	Harley Clifford
2011	Harley Clifford
2012	Raph Derome
2013	Aaron Rathy
2014	Harley Clifford
2015 Prediction	Harley Clifford
2015 Actual	Harley Clifford

Best Wakeboarder: Harley has won 10 of the 16 contests he's entered this year including The Masters,
Mastercraft Throwdown and The WWA National Championships. Oh and then there's this...