Boardshorts, Bulls and Bikinis Pro Wakeboard Event - Spy Team Takes Top Places.

The third annual Boardshorts, Bulls and Bikinis pro wakeboard event took place at the legendary Gilley's honky-tonk in Dallas, Texas and Spy’s Shane "Danger" Bonifay came out on top…twice!

The finals started at around 10:30pm and everyone was attacking the rails. Each rider got two attempts to show the judges why they deserved the win. Chad Sharpe's consistent riding landed him in third place overall. The "Bone-Crusher" Rusty Malinoski muscled through a 540 for second place, while Shane Bonifay nose-pressed his way to a victory like only he can! Shane pocketed $1,000 cash and the first of two custom silver belt buckles up for grabs for his efforts.

After the rail jam, the top wake and skate finalists headed over to the bull-riding arena. With a second custom silver belt buckle on the line, Clint Tompkins, Bret Little, Brian Grubb, Shane Bonifay, Rusty Malinoski and 2006 bull-riding champ, Chad Sharpe, each had a shot at taming the mechanical beast. The bull "operator" was showing no mercy, but almost everyone beat the eight-second standard. However, it was Bonifay who held on for 19.6 seconds to win the contest and snag his second silver buckle of the evening!

Stay tuned for more action from the Texas Wakeboard Tour...The next event is April 12th in Lubbock, Texas with the Riptank Rail Jam at the Garden. Top pro and regional Spy athletes will be on hand and ready to dominate.


- Surfeyes.com

Spy Optic's ASP / WCT Surf Contest Update!

It's that time again for the "Dream Tour" to begin. The Quiksilver Pro is the first of ten contests at Coolagatta "the Gold Coast" of Australia at Snapper Rocks surf break. This year Spy has two players in the WCT, Dean Morrison from Coolagatta and Ben Bourgeois from North Carolina. Dean is a seasoned WCT vet with a current fifth place rating. Ben has returned back to the WCT for 2008 after a four year absence.

This year’s tour hype is focused around two rookies--Jordy Smith and Dane Reynolds. They respectively finished first and second in the 2007 WQS and have established themselves as the next era of competitive surfers, surfing heats equal to any free surf session. It took Spy's seasoned WCT surfer Dean Morrison to show the media it's not going to be a walk in the park for these two new comers.

In round three, Dean drew Dane Reynolds and blew past him with a score of 16.10 to 13.27. Round four Dean drew Jordy Smith. After some more incredible surfing Dean beat Jordy with a score of 15.60 to 14.34. It was in the quarter finals where Dean drew his good friend and World Champion Mick Fanning. In the first half of the heat Dean was in control but it was in the end half of the heat Mick overtook Dean and won with a score of 14.34 to 13.06. Dean Morrison finished the event with an equal fifth.

Ben finished the 2007 WQS season ninth in the ratings and is no stranger to surfing the WCT. Immediately pitted against the best rated surfers on the tour, Ben drew CJ Hobgood and Adriano De Souza for his first heat on the circuit. Placing second in the heat, he next drew and beat the Brazilian Rodrigo Dornelles. In the third round, Ben lost to former three-time World Champion Andy Irons. Ben finished Snapper with a seventeenth place. Not a bad start for his first WCT contest in a few years.

Congrats to Dean and Ben! More WCT and ASP updates to follow.

- Surfeyes.com

SPY TEAM RIDER MIKE CLARKE ON FIRE AT US OPEN IN THE BIG AIR COMP

On a bitterly cold Saturday evening in January at Copper Mountain, Colorado, 5,000 spectators braved the windchill to witness the most anticipated and highly-lauded event of the US Open of FreeSkiing…the Big Air comp.

While this year's jump dynamics didn't allow for the amplitude and progressive trickery that the crowd may have expected, the invite only list of 30 competitors still threw down. Competitors each took two jumps, with the eight best-scoring jumps moving those athletes on to a single-elimination final. Those that made it through the next round squared off in a “best of two” format.

When all was said and done, 18-year old Spy young gun, Mike Clarke made his way onto the podium with a third place finish, after stomping a number of perfect cab 1080 true tails. "I couldn't be more stoked," said an elated Clarke. "It’s so unexpected, and awesome to be on the podium in an event like this!"

Mike Clarke will be holding it down in film and photo shoots throughout North America and Europe this spring, and notably was just invited to participate in the Jon Olsson Super Sessions event, being recognized as one of the top 10 park skiers in the world. Stay tuned...

- Surfeyes.com