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Winter X Games 12: Snowboard Halfpipe Mens Final
Fire Extinguishing Hooligan Goes Medieval on X Games Pipe
Shaun White absolutely dominated X Games pipe with amateur rookie Ryoh Aono taking second and Kevin Pearce filling out the podium. I don't care who you are but after being outside for four days, at night in Colorado, in a snowstorm is pretty tiring. However the payoff is that if you were there you saw some amazing feats for your efforts. Worth it? Heck yea! The fans were pumped Sunday night too even though though the deck of the pipe was closed. The reason the deck of the pipe was closed is the same reason the conditions in the pipe were challenging. It was warm enough in the day to make the snow a little slushy, and then it froze back up at night which meant the deck was like an ice rink. The side walls were also slick BUT the falling snow meant the bottom of the pipe had some pow in it and in turn slow. Sooo the pipe was fast and slow, slick and grippy and visibility was not that great due to the sideways snow either. Hey, these are the best in the world and they threw down for the final event of the 2008 X Games anyway.
First of all there was no Steve Fisher, no Andy Finch, a lot of older names were absent in the finals. Keir Dillon was announcing and some of the guys in the final are not quite yet household names. It was a 3 run format, best single run wins. Simple enough right? Considering the judging panel had such names as Jim Rippey and Jeff Brushie on it, it is safe to say they knew what to look for. The difference between 10th and 1st was making the sickest runs (or making a whole run). Back to back 10's were mandatory to say the least. On top of that, nice solid grabs, amplitude, style and cleanness meant the difference between say 6th and 3rd, you get the idea. Pretty much the top 6 or so guys could have taken it if all went their way. Mason looked sick, Kazu was ripping, Autti had the tricks but not the critical grabs, and none got into medal contention, but close. It has to be said so here goes. Danny Kass did not make slope finals, he party's like a rock star or with rappers, he sold out and went to Nike; and it seemed a downturn in shredding for Kass. It seemed like it until he went for his first wall in the pipe finals. He tried an alley oop frontside 7 which is practically impossible. Had he made it solid and gone into his next planned trick which was likely a 1080 (then another 1080) Mr. Kass would have won. So Mr. Kass was going Ricky Bobby style - first or last. Danny had by far the hardest trick there. He actually semi pulled it on his third run. Danny has made them before and will likely make them again so watch for it.
Kevin Pearce looked solid all weekend with a silver in slope and runner up in big air. The hardest man in snowboarding threw down big in the perfect yet challenging pipe. He might have fallen his first two runs (not sure) but his third run he got it all together with
tricks like a front 9, stylee 5, front 7 to 10 and what must have been another 10. Kevin scored Bronze. Ryoh Aono, wait who? Yea I did know who he was because apparently he still holds down am status in Japan. It is said that Ryoh idolizes Shaun White and it shows. Ryoh was pre-enacting his runs up top, a true pro. Ryoh did one of the biggest if not the biggest airs on the Huck-O-Meter at 16'2". His second place run also had a sick triple pump 7, front 9 to back 10 into another 10. He may have won except he was wearing a giraffe outfit. Just kidding, he did get a score of 88. Shaun White had the pressure, the limelight and he pulled through. Shaun killed his first run; giant lien, giant 5, 1080 to 1080 and so on. Shaun's last hit was a super sick front stale 5. The tomato got a 92 for his first run. Ryoh's 1st run score of 88 was the closest anyone got for the rest of the night. Shaun's second run was similar to his first. Shaun's third run was un-touchable. Not content with just getting first, Shaun had to crush it. The third run was; Lien, McTwist, front 10, fakie to forward 10, front 9, back 9 and finally a 12, the first for Shaun. His third run scored a 97.67 If Shaun had done something besides his typical giant lien melon air, he could have gotten a 100. So even though a radio station called Shaun "A Hooligan with a fir extinguisher" and the fans love him or hate him, despite all that, he kills all at pipe. End of story!
Quotes
"That is an extremely hard trick Danny Kass is trying" - Todd Richards on Danny Kass and his attempt at a frontside alley oop 720
"I am just trying to hang tight" - Shaun White on his 2nd run
"It's weird going through there with the snow" - Shaun White
"I got plans" - Shaun White just before his third run where he pulled a 1260 and scored a 97.67
Results
1 Shaun White
2 Ryoh Aono
3 Kevin Pearce
4 Mason Aguirre
5 Kazuhiro Kokubo
6 Antti Autti
7 Danny Kass
8 I-Pod
9 Gary Zebrowski
10 Elijah Teter
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