2016 WAKE AWARDS PREDICTIONS

"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	Guenther Oka
2016 Prediction	Yun SangHyun
2016 Actual	Max van Helvoort

BEST WOMEN'S RIDER

Year	Winner
2006	Dallas Friday
2007	Amber Wing
2008	Nicola Butler
2009	Dallas Friday
2010	Amber Wing
2011	Amber Wing
2012	Amber Wing
2013	Amber Wing
2014	Meagan Ethell
2015	Meagan Ethell
2016 Prediction	Meagan Ethell
2016 Actual	Meagan Ethell

"Check Out" Award Prediction: There's no listed criteria for this award but it usually goes to the best rider on the Jr. Pro Tour. However, last year WakeboardingMag surprised us by passing up the Jr. Pro Tour Champion Nic Rapa, and instead awarded Guenther Oka who had done well on both boat and the cable. There are a lot of very talented riders on the Jr. Pro Tour this year but no obvious stand-out. While it's practically impossible to predict who will win this award, Yun SangHyun (aka 'Russell') would certainly be most deserving of this award. At only 18 years old, he's already landed multiple wake-to-wake 1080's and Double-Flips as well as only the third rider in history to land a Dum Dum 540 behind the boat. Other Jr. Pro riders who could win this award include Elliot Digney, Tyler Higham, Lewy Watt or Cobe France.


Best Women's Rider: If you're asking us, Julia Rick should win this award without question. However, this award has always gone to a boat rider which means Meagan Ethell is the most probable candidate. She started the 2015 season winning the first 4 competitions of the season (and 8 in a row dating back to last season) before blowing her knee in June. Despite missing more than half the season she still won more boat competitions than any other female this year, showing you how dominate she really is. Amber Wing also had an incredible come-back season this year after having her first child last year. She landed on the podium five times this year and won the WWA National Championships. Nicola Butler has also had a great season with four podiums and two wins but we don't think either Amber or Nicola have done enough to overtake Meagan's 8 consecutive wins. We shall see...

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	Raph Derome
2016 Prediction	Dom Hernler
2016 Actual	Dom Hernler

BEST WAKE PARK RIDER

Year	Winner
2010	Tom Fooshee
2011	Tom Fooshee
2012	Daniel Grant
2013	Daniel Grant
2014	Daniel Grant
2015	Daniel Grant
2016 Prediction	Aaron Gunn
2016 Actual	Daniel Grant

Best Rail Rider: This award can be unpredictable but we're going with Dom Hernler here. He had an absolutely unbelievable Real Wake video as well as some insane photos in magazines. However, this award is very subjective, which means it could go to a number of different riders including Nico von Lerchenfeld, Raph Derome, Aaron Gunn, Daniel Grant, or even Guenther Oka.

Best Wake Park Rider: In our opinion Aaron Gunn is overdue for this award. He's now a 2x Wake Park World Champion and the 2016 Plastic Playground champion. On top of that, he came out with one of the best Wake Park videos of the year in his 'Welcome to Slingshot' video. Aaron is definitely deserving of this award however it's also subjective which means there are a few other riders who could win it. These riders include Daniel Grant (again), Dom Hernler, Guenther Oka or Yonel Cohen

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	N/A	N/A
2016 Prediction	Josh Twelker	Dog Dayz
2016 Actual	Josh Twelker	Dog Dayz

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	N/A
2014	Drop the Gun
2015	PRIME
2016 Prediction	Dog Dayz
2016 Actual	Dog Dayz

Best Video / Video Performance: The only full-length films released since last year's Wake Awards were LF'N Awesome and Dog Dayz. Both great films and either one could win, but we're going with Dog Dayz here. Josh Twelker had the stand-out performance in the film and if you haven't seen it you should definitely check it out on iTunes. Bob Soven also had a great section in LF'N Awesome with an absolutely incredible Backside 720 on a 1992 Skurfer.

BEST WEB VIDEO

Year	Winner	Video
2013	Danny Hampson	Graceland
2014	JD Webb	Another One Down
2015	Raph Derome	Beyond Perception
2016 Prediction	Massi Piffaretti	Pizza Boi
2016 Actual	Brenton Priestley	Real Wake

Best Web Video: This award is always unpredictable and subjective so there are a number of possible videos that could win here including Dean Smith's 'Thirty Something', Aaron Gunn's Slingshot video, or Rusty Malinski's 'STILL'.

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	Cody Hesse	Indy Triple Toeside Backroll	[VIDEO]
2016 Prediction	Max van Helvoort	Double KGB	[VIDEO]
2016 Actual	Max van Helvoort	Double KGB	[VIDEO]

FEMALE TRICK OF THE YEAR

Year	Winner	Trick	Video
2009	Amber Wing	Heelside 720	[VIDEO]
2010	Amber Wing	Toeside 900	[VIDEO]
2011	N/A	N/A	N/A
2012	Ange Schriber	Heelside 900	[VIDEO]
2013	Bec Gange	Whirlybird 540	[VIDEO]
2014	N/A	N/A	N/A
2015	Carro Djupsjo	Double Half-Cab Roll	[VIDEO]
2016 Prediction	Julia Rick	Toe Back 900	[VIDEO]
2016 Actual	Julia Rick	Toe Back 900	[VIDEO]

Trick of the Year: There have been a lot of incredible tricks landed this year but we don't think any were as incredible as Max's Wrapped Double KGB. It was grabbed all the way around and could not have been landed any cleaner. It's only the second variation of a Double-Mobe ever landed, although we've heard rumors of a third variation landed this year (a Double Pete Rose). We'll have to wait until Wake Awards to find out!

Female Trick of the Year: As far as we know Julia Rick is the only female to have landed any new tricks this year, and she's landed three of them - An Air Front-Mobe 540, a Switch Air Crow Mobe and a Toeside Backside 900. Her Backside 900 is certainly the most impressive and with no pre-spin and an absolutely stomped landing. We'd be shocked if anything else won here.

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	Harley Clifford
2016 Prediction	Mike Dowdy
2016 Actual	Brenton Priestley

Best Wakeboarder: After Harley Clifford went down early in the season with a knee injury, it was left up to Mike Dowdy and Cory Teunissen to battle it out with incredible unexpected season-long performances by Tony Iacconi and Nic Rapa. Mike Dowdy has been the most consistent, winning The Masters and the Overall Pro Wakeboard Tour. He's also ranked #1 in the Wakeboard World Series, so we would be pretty surprised if anyone else won here.