The 60th Anniversary of the Moomba Masters was another huge event date marked on the calendar of all water sports enthusiasts. Always a show stopping week of action along the Yarra the weather was a perfect blend of Melbourne cool and warmth mixed in together.
The Moomba Masters kicks off the 2020 World Wake Association season and is always super competitive as the worlds wakeboard Pros look to ignite their season and assert early dominance. The Aussies are certainly very engaged and focused on this event seeing as it's the sole WWA event held on home turf in front of a home crowd filled with friends & family.
The heats were competitive and many felt the pressure of the first event ride for the season with some intense moments.
In the Pro Womens young Mackenzie McCarthy showed out in her first official ride in the Pro Womens ranks with a solid run and was unfortunate to pull the larger qualifying field in heat 3 which included world number 1 Meagen Ethell. Mackenzies run wasn't enough to get her through into the finals even though her semi finals run score was the 4th highest score qualifying and would have seen her 1st in Heat 1 & 2nd in Heat 2. She can still feel accomplished from her run and take some boosted confidence knowing that she was right there alongside her more seasoned Pros.
Zahra Kell continues to put the world on notice that she is a phenom and although a little younger she is super experienced at this level and ready to throw it down with some big tricks. Zahra has kicked off 2020 with a solid 2nd and she will look to continue her stellar form with a run of podiums and no doubt some top steps.
Bec Gange. Your 2020 Moomba Masters Champion. What else can be said about Bec that you don't already know? She continues to get it done on the big stage with her stellar riding. She put down a nice qualifying run and followed up with a sick finals run that proved to be enough to take the overall victory and also best trick for the comp giving her a sweet little boost in points to start her 2020 campaign. We are stoked for Bec on taking her first Moomba Masters title!!
Pro Mens always plays out with some intensity and drama, which we love as you never really know who will be able to pull out all the stops. It's hard to seperate the guys at this level and on any given day you could have any combination of different podium results. It was awesome to see the crowd get behind the internationals as well as the aussies and there was just a cool vibe of genuine stoke around the event.
The qualifying heats were interesting with a few guys not able to make it through and being eliminated early. Bryce Grey had a good showing for his first crack at Pro Mens but couldn't do enough to break through. The LCQ's was very cool to watch under lights with some big runs put down and Guenther Oka with Cobe France making there way into the finals up against the big dogs: Tuenissen, Rapa, Iacconi, Highham, Flegel & Pelot.
Guenther set the tone early with a hammer filled, stylish stand up run that saw him early favourite and leader. I'm guessing the boys felt the heat from his run as a few falls proved costly for the rest of the field taking some of them out of contention. Tony Iacconi was again powerful and stylish as he brought out a big bag of tricks as he surged for a big result and was unfortunate to not podium finishing in 4th place. Nic Rapa is looking to have another monster season and its clear why he is always a hot favourite to take the win. His run was marred by an unlikely fall but was still good enough to take 2nd overall spot ahead of Geunther in 3rd.
1st place and your 2020 Moomba Masters Pro Mens Champion - Cory Teunissen. CT is a machine. Enough said. We need some DNA testing done or something, get NASA down here, he's an alien. Stomping huge trick after huge trick after huge trick is second nature to this dude. Chalk up another one, get another trophy cabinet ready cause this kid can just get it done when he needs to. We are stoked for CT to get 2020 underway with a big win on home soil and looking forward to the rest of season.
FULL RESULTS BELOW
