Team Hyperlite kicked out of Masters

HyperliteRidr134 · Posted: Jun 13, 2005 6:16 am Post subject: Team Hyperlite kicked out of Masters

Anyone notice that there were no riders from team Hyperlite in the Masters? Thats because the night before, they were all drinking, and decided to take their dirtbikes for a ride around the park. The police stopped them, they all stopped, but one of them (a minor, who is going to remain anomonous) actually hit the cop car, fell over, got up and just ran away. Team Hyperlite might be banned from the masters forever.

Gruelie · Outlaw Joined: 05 Jun 2003 Posts: 164 City: Edmond

whoa that sucks

Mikey27 · Posted: Jun 13, 2005 8:09 am Post subject:

I wanna party with those guys. Twisted Evil

holdsworth · Posted: Jun 13, 2005 8:35 am Post subject:

i think that this is a bunch of BS. an actual news article would be helpful Rolling Eyes

Bowen · Posted: Jun 13, 2005 10:58 am Post subject:

ohio_wake_2008, and you think Hyperlite would put out a press release about this?...I'm not saying I believe this, but you won't find a 'news' article about something like this...

And anyone who knows anything about wakeboarding knows that many people on the Hyperlite team poorly represent the sport when they are off the water.

bmartin · Addict Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 794

Here is some more gossip on the matter from some local GA folks....scroll down a few posts.

http://www.wakeboardamerica.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6866&PN=3&mbDate=5/31/2005%209:56:15%20AM

ibusthard · Outlaw Joined: 16 May 2005 Posts: 223 City: Houston

yea, I heard some stories about some of them hyperlite boys, they tear it up on and off the water.

Bowen - your right about the press release thing, I doubt you'll see that in any articles. That of course is bad publicity, and you wont likely find any info about it. If in fact that is the case, I'd like to get the full story about it.

WyLd_ChiLd · Outlaw Joined: 12 Jun 2005 Posts: 223 City: Toronto

Do you Guys think that hyperlite might do Some Booting and recruiting? If you know what i mean.

Gruelie · Outlaw Joined: 05 Jun 2003 Posts: 164 City: Edmond

Who in particular has a reputation for this kind of thing? I didn't that about the hyperlite team.

longhornboarder · Newbie Joined: 23 May 2005 Posts: 7 City: Dallas

It is true. We were there.
Don't throw Murray in with that bunch. He is a professional all the way.
Unfortunately a lot of these "pros" are killing it for the other riders. These guys and others are not professional in any way. Can you imagine Tiger Woods or Jeff Gordon acting like these guys.

Look at other professional sports- None act like this at the events. BMX had to clean up there act and look where they are now. No sponsor wants to be associated with a bunch of juvenile delinquents. The tour is like a bad frat party. Hint to riders- GROW UP.

The ladys do a find job. So does Sovin, Adkins, Murray, Santori, Lidburg, Nunn and others. There's hope- This can be a great profession if someone just takes a leadership role.

Gruelie · Outlaw Joined: 05 Jun 2003 Posts: 164 City: Edmond

That's weird. I always thought that Hyperlite was the team to ride for

ibusthard · Outlaw Joined: 16 May 2005 Posts: 223 City: Houston

I've known some motocross guys that I believe lost some sponsors because of their behavior as well. Although, in the freestyle motocross, those guys get pretty crazy, and It doesn't seem like the sponsors really care.

wakeman101 · Outlaw Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 104 City: ATL

if hyperlite got kicked out how come Ruck, Webb, and Copland were ripping it up on saturday (i was @ the masters and im from GA)

at an autograph sesion i asked Erick Ruck if Harf had not made it to the qualifieing heats and he told me "yes"

aslo Shaun Murray was the head anouncer guy

ive heard nuthing about this

B_Fool · Soul Rider Joined: 15 Aug 2004 Posts: 373 City: Cen FLA

I don't care how good of a rider you are...
I've always said their team is a bunch of derelicts.. except Murray.

pooser · Wakeboarder.com Freak Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 4738

oh man, they were drinking before the contest. thats horrible. i dont think any of them should be allowed to wakeboard ever again. God forbid anyone want to have a good time. The details of the story are sketchy. the whole thing sounds pretty lame to me.
B_Fool, they just added mike schwenne to the team. that guys got a pretty "clean" image, too.

Jama · Soul Rider Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Posts: 476 City: Knoxville

Bowen, I think you can know alot about wakeboarding with not knowing the personalities of hyperlite's team members

pooser · Wakeboarder.com Freak Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 4738

itch · Posted: Jun 13, 2005 2:14 pm Post subject:

It was Sharpe and Parks I believe some Bteam riders were involved nothing big just them drunk goofin off at a place that takes itself way to seriously.
itch

Josh R · Posted: Jun 13, 2005 7:32 pm Post subject: Re: Hyperlite

Itch has the truest post of the day award coming to him.

longhornboarder · Newbie Joined: 23 May 2005 Posts: 7 City: Dallas

The facts.
Harf, Sharp an Henshaw were kicked out for behavior and legal incident. Not Hyperlite Team. Bonnifay has been asked not to come to Masters and they escorted him out due to past behavior at the Masters that reflects poorly on the sport.

There are some great people on Hyperlite- Murray, Webb and Copeland know how to represent themselves. The Jr Men coming up are great representatives also- Hair, Errington, Lee and a few others.

No one cares what these guys do as long as they understand they are suppose to be professioanls and to represent the sport the best way possible when they are "working" (i.e. pro tour stops).

You have to separate the Pro Tour from what you do on your boat. They are not the same. This is about money and sponsorships and TV and promotion. If you don't think these guys like the money you are kidding yourself. Unfortunately many of the riders are high school dropouts and they are happy making $50,000 a year and partying and having the '"grunge" reputation. Parks makes a whole lot more than that but once you get past the top few the money is sparse (for a pro athlete).

Josh R · Posted: Jun 14, 2005 6:50 am Post subject: Re: hyperlite team

jryoung · Ladies Man Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 7664 City: Man Jose

karkid · Soul Rider Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 327 City: Tempe

surferingsocal · Newbie Joined: 14 Jun 2005 Posts: 1 City: Costa Mesa

My first time in a wakeboard forum. A friend of mine who is an avid wakeboarding fan asked me to look at this. My company is in the business of promoting events and athletes. He has tried to convince me to get my company to look at wakeboarding. We have and the reason they are not interested is pretty well spelled out here.

Action sports is very appealing and wakeboarding would be an excellent venue but the sport has taken the wrong approach. I can not get my clients to invest money in a sport that has the demographics it presently attracts. A part of your problem is the current media. The magazines have a demographic of white males 18 to 24 years old and a household income in the lower third. These are the same people promoting the professional events. Interestingly, watersports itself have a very good demographic and almost the opposite of the magazines. It truly ia a paradoxical situation.

Those of you who think it is about partying are totaly misguided. One of my clients is a beer company that invest millions in sports promotion. Yet not one of their athletes or cars promotes "partying". Beer companies are in football, baseball, basketball, racing, action sports, etc but the image they are promoting is not what wakeboarding is promoting. Check out a commercial next time and see for yourself.

I went to Reno at my friends urging since it is close to CA. I really like the head to head venue and the sport itself has a lot of promise. A lot of the athletes have the right look and presence. Unfortunately the day ended with one of the pro riders running down the beach with four beers over his head celebrating the outcome. Wrong. I was at the host hotel going to dinner with my daughter and saw one of the riders in the lobby with his shirt off giving a security worker a hard time. Wrong.

Companies like ours will revisit wakeboarding and its athletes when someone gets a grip on this sport. If it was I, I would have a come to Jesus meeting with the riders and put them under contract. I then would hire a professional company that knows how to promote the sport beyond just riders. The pro events could be a very good venue, it just needs some tweeking. Good luck.

jryoung · Ladies Man Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 7664 City: Man Jose

Gruelie · Outlaw Joined: 05 Jun 2003 Posts: 164 City: Edmond

It's not the sport that encourages getting wasted all the time. It's the individual riders, sir.

Wakeguru · Outlaw Joined: 26 Aug 2003 Posts: 150 City: CFL

I'd call that a reality check.

Thanks for taking the time to chime, Surferingsocal.

Mitchell · Posted: Jun 14, 2005 8:32 am Post subject:

Im f'in jealous

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

Gruelie · Outlaw Joined: 05 Jun 2003 Posts: 164 City: Edmond

I was just saying we should not put that label on the entire sport just because a few of the riders choose to make bad decisions. Wakeboarding is a great sport and shouldn't be labeled as worthless for advertising.

Tyler T · Posted: Jun 14, 2005 10:04 am Post subject:

Gruelie, surfering socal just explained EXACTLY what you're arguing. Read his post again, then think about who and what are the faces of the sport when it comes down to promoting the sport and I think you'll start to get it.

vision135 · Posted: Jun 14, 2005 10:08 am Post subject:

Ya people just stick with our roots this sport is about one thing FUN not some tournament.

Cbrown · Soul Rider Joined: 23 Oct 2003 Posts: 301 City: Memphis

I had not heard about anyone hitting a cop car but was aware of a couple riders getting arrested and taken off of the premises. They were having a good time and were riding their 50s on private property when the cops showed up and a couple of them got in trouble. I do not want to post what happened because it is none of my business to spread around the story.

The details on Parks were pretty head on. He actually laid low and was not involved in the first incident but they called the cops and had a police escort off of the premises in front of everyone.

This all came from someone who was actually there that night. He may not have given us all of the details but filled us in on what happened.

longhornboarder · Newbie Joined: 23 May 2005 Posts: 7 City: Dallas

No one is saying your wakeboarding or what you do on the boat should be a certain way. Hey- your local softball team can bring out a kegger and have you chug a beer for each hit. The neighborhood guys get together for a round of golf and maybe take bong hits before putting. Who cares. We like to have a good time on the boat, drink beer, etc.

But that is not about professioanl sports. We are talking about the "Pro Tour". Most people would like to see it professional. Like to to it elevated and represented well. There is a small percentage who think it's cool to be "rebels without a cause" (or a life) but most people are tired of this and would like to see the "Pros" be professional, thats all. By the way. The majority of the young pros agree and want to see it changed. It's their future. If you don't like that direction you don't have to support the Pros, just wakeboard.

SOCAL Surfer is just stating the facts. Too bad there's no one listening who could help change it.

Masonwakerider · Newbie Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 14 City: woodinville

I think you all are taking there actions a little to serious. Having pros that act like this will not bring the sport down. Look at snowboarding. It is a lot bigger then wakeboarding and that is what most of their pros are known for. Many videos contain bonus features of pros Fing around while drunk.
These pros arnt role models they are 20 years old guys that have no real responcibilities, and most haven't finished highschool. If it wasnt for their riding these guys would be dicking around in Junior College.