AUSTRALIAN Cory Teunissen recorded a score of 92.86 to upset world number 1 and defending champ at the Mandurah event.
Touted to win in Mandurah again this year, Harley Clifford smashed the qualifying round on Saturday with a score of 84.67, closely behind Japan’s Shota Tezuka with a qualifying score of 86.6 Sunday’s conditions brought out the best in everyone, with the competition fierce.
Third rider off the dock, Cory Teunissen scored a 92.86, guaranteeing him a podium finish. Italy’s Massi Piffaretti came close with a score of 86. Harley was the final competitor for the day, and after not quite clearing one of his jumps it was an extremely close call for the judges. Clifford finished on a 91.56.
The 2015 Mandurah World Cup is the 43rd stop in the IWWF world Cup series, and has by far been the most controversial in the Cup history.
Cyclone Olwyn threatened the Mandurah Foreshore for most of the weekend, with the competitions in jeopardy the weather cleared sufficiently on Sunday for the bulk of the wakeboard competitions.
Cory said: "I’m pretty stoked. Harley’s ruled this event, pretty much every event, for the last five years. To beat him in the first competition of the year is a huge confidence booster."
Cory’s older brother, Brad Tuenissen, also made it into the final, after being a Wildcard entry into the event. Brad placed sixth with a score of 50.67.
In the Women’s wakeboard event, American Nicola Butler won with World Champion and previous winner of the Mandurah World Cup, Raimi Merritt (USA) in second place.
Butler has placed second for the past two years in Mandurah, behind Raimi, and this year was recovering from a broken leg and multiple bone resets in the last nine months.
On her win, Butler said: "I’ve been plagued with injury for the last two years and broke my leg in June, I’ve had two bone resets since then to come here and win was really surprising and awesome."
Third on the podium is Sweden’s Caroline Djupsjo.