The Malibu WWA Rider Experience North landed in Michigan this weekend showcasing everything from first-time riders to career pinnacles with Luca Kidd owning the overall Mabilu Jr. Pro Series title. A series like no other, the 2018 Malibu Rider Experience includes a range of events, with four stops throughout North America, and one stop left in Canada next month. Freeride Friday, Surfgate Sunday, the Malibu Pro Card Qualifier, and the WWA Wakeboard Regional Championships are held at each stop, offering riders an opportunity to practice, progress, and have a blast on the water.

Eager riders arrived at White Lake Inn on Freeride Friday for a chance to prepare their competition run and receive coaching from Malibu pro athletes Brain Grubb, Chad Sharpe, Raph Derome, and Charli Shore. Hosted by Tommy’s of Detroit and pulled behind the world-class Malibu 24 MXZ, riders experienced the best wake in the business alongside some of the top pros in wakeboarding.

Contrary to the previous three Surfgate Sundays on the Malibu Rider Experience tour, the Northern region switched it up for a Surfgate Saturday. Ronix brought their full line of wakesurfers for riders to demo while Malibu Boats, Rockstar Energy, Best Flag, and Tommy’s of Detroit provided the onshore entertainment with giveaways and demonstrations. Malibu’s revolutionary Surf Gate technology powered a full day of wakesurfing action behind the Malibu 24 MXZ, plus some additional practice runs before Sunday’s WWA Wakeboard Regional Championships and the Malibu Jr. Pro Overall Series finale.

“We came to White Lake after hearing there were professionals out here making dreams come true for children,” said Michigan-local, Craig L. Smith. “My daughter Alyssa came out and finally landed her 180s and got to ride doubles with Luca Kidd. Not only that, it’s been a dream of mine, since my daughter was born, to ride doubles with her. Today, myself and my daughter rode doubles and it was a dream come true, something I’ve been looking forward to for 10 years. It was a great time and I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

On Sunday, all the action moved south to Lyons Ski Club in Wixom, for the 2018 Malibu WWA Regional Championships North presented by Rockstar Energy. The Indiana-based Wildman family dominated the podiums with Beaux Wildman (IL) taking first place in both the Boys Wakeboard and Men’s Wakesurf divisions, his brother Noah Wildman (IL) placing second in the Jr. Pro Men division, and their father Josh Wildman (IL) winning first place in the Veterans division.

Luca Kidd (GBR), the undefeated Jr. Pro Men’s champion, took his 4thconsecutive win, sweeping the Malibu Jr. Pro Series. His impressive nose grab crowmobe 540 and nose grab T/S 720 earned a score of 89.00. Noah Wildman (USA) followed close behind throwing a clean H/S 720 and a huge Moby Dick, scoring an 80.00 for his first Jr. Pro podium finish. Rounding out the podium in third was Tyler Worrall (USA) with a 75.67.

A $20,000 prize purse was on the line in the Malibu Jr. Pro Series. Unique to typical payouts, Malibu provides $15,000 in prize money to the top five overall winners, plus an additional $5,000 in travel reimbursements to the top five to the upcoming 2018 WWA Wakeboard National and World Championships. Luca Kidd (GBR) came out on top of the series with 400 points overall. Kevin Duffy (USA), Bryce Grey (AUS), Joey Gallagher (USA), and Tyler Worrall (USA) also made it into the top five after the summer-long, four-stop series.

“I am super happy with how the event went,” said Luca Kidd. “Everyone threw down so it wasn’t easy to win. There we’re so many rippers out there like Joey Gallagher, Thomas Herman, Tyler Worrall, and Kevin Duffy. All those boys were ripping so I was just stoked I could hold it for the fourth stop and end up taking the Malibu Jr. Pro Series overall win.”

Luca Kidd is the first rider in the Malibu Jr. Pro Series history to win each of the four stops. Previous Malibu Jr. Pro Series winners include Nic Rapa, Cory Teunissen, and Tyler Higham, each having extremely successful professional careers to date. Needless to say, the future is bright for Luca Kidd.

The Malibu Rider Experience goes international next month heading to Ontario, Canada August 10th-12th. As the final stop of the 2018, we’re looking forward to new faces and big wins as we cross the border and wrap up the sixth year of the series. Follow along with all the action at https://www.thewwa.com/rider-experience/.

For the list of the full result, check it out here.