Torah Bright & Peetu Piiroinen Win $100,000 Burton Global Open Series
Shaun White & Cheryl Maas Drive Home New Volvo C30 R-Designs
Stratton, Vt – Glory, fame and fortune were on the line yesterday at the US Open Snowboarding Championships, where the world’s top riders battled for five different prestigious titles, two Volvo C30 R-Designs and cash awards worth a total of $471,500. Yesterday’s big winners were 2008 BGOS champions Torah Bright (AUS) and Peetu Piiroinen (FIN); 2008 US Open halfpipe champions Torah Bright (AUS) and Shaun White (USA); 2008 Men’s Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion Kevin Pearce (USA); Volvo Most Valuable Riders Cheryl Maas and Shaun White; and 2008 US Open big air champions Cheryl Maas and Tim Humphreys.
Last season’s Burton Global Open Series champion Torah Bright had this to say about her second BGOS title and $100,000 title win, “I had tears coming down under my goggles. I just couldn’t believe that I could win the title twice. I’m really very happy.”
Finnish rider Peetu Piiroinen, who has never won a major title in his snowboard career, said, “I never thought I had a chance to win the BGOS title. I just cannot wait to call my family in Finland – they won’t believe it!”
The action-packed day kicked off with the men and women’s halfpipe finals, where history repeated itself when 2007 US Open halfpipe champions Shaun White and Torah Bright once again took first place and $20,000 each. Just like at last year’s US Open, Shaun also won the Volvo for his overall riding at the event.
At the start of the halfpipe finals, four men and two women were still in contention for the $100,000 Burton Global Open Series title, and every rider in the running had calculated what ranking he or she needed to take home competitive snowboarding’s biggest single payout. In the best-of-three run finals Torah Bright took the lead early with a run that featured a backside 3 Indy, switch backside 720 mute (Winner of Zune Best Trick and $5,000), backside 540, melon-to-fakie with a Cab 720 at the end. Coming off a win at yesterday’s slopestyle, Shaun White won his third US Open halfpipe title, ending his day with a victory lap. Shaun’s winning run consisted of a first-hit frontside 1080 stalefish to Cab 1080 into his signature frontside 540 stalefish, McTwist, frontside 900 with a backside 900 ender—all huge and flawless. Scotty Lago clocked the Zune Best Trick and $5,000 with a double cork frontside 1080.
Later that night, the big air went down and the Volvo Most Valuable Rider awards were given out. Tim Humphreys did every trick in the book from frontside and backside 1080s, backside and switch backside 720s and a backside rodeo 540 to win the title. Cheryl Maas also impressed the judges with her trick arsenal that included a frontside 360, backside 540 and a backside 720 tailgrab (SoBe $2,500 Sick Trick award), earning her the top spot. Chas Guldemond earned the SoBe Sick Trick for his backside 1260 melon.
Cheryl’s overall performance at the event earned her the Volvo. “I’m super stoked, I was just about to sell my old car and I never thought I’d have a car this nice,” said Cheryl about her Volvo win.
Kevin Pearce also had a big day as he took third in the US Open halfpipe competition and was crowned the new 07/08 Men’s Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion, earning $50,000.
After the big air competition, Grammy-nominated heavy metal band Mastodon heated things up with a free show on the concert stage at Stratton’s main base area from 8:00-9:00 p.m.
Be sure to catch the 2008 US Open halfpipe, slopestyle and big air action on NBC, Sunday, March 23 from 1:30-3:00 p.m. EDT. Webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over on Go211.com
2008 Burton Global Open Series Male and Female Champions:
Men - Peetu Piiroinen, FIN, $100,000
Women - Torah Bright, AUS, $100,000
2008 US Open Big Air Results:
Men
1. Tim Humphreys, USA, $10,000
2. Chas Guldemond, USA, $5,000
3. Torstein Horgmo, NOR, $2,500
SoBe Sick Trick Award: Chas Guldemond, USA, $2,500
Women
1. Cheryl Maas, NED, $10,000
2. Claudia Fliri, AUT, $5,000
3. Spencer O’Brien, CAN, $2,500
SoBe Sick Trick Award: Cheryl Maas, USA, $2,500
About the Burton Global Open Series
The Burton Global Open Series events are the pinnacle snowboarding events of the season. Founded by Jake Burton, the Opens have grown from grassroots events to global spectacles attracting tens of thousands of spectators and riders from around the world. Since the beginning, the Opens have been driven by riders, for riders evolving with snowboarding and riders’ needs over the years. With events held in Canada, Europe, Japan, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, the Opens set the standard for snowboarding events around the globe.
About the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour
The Burton Global Open Series is part of the Swatch Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour, the largest group of independent freestyle snowboard events in the world. TTR ranks riders based on their results at participating competitions and crowns a Swatch TTR World Champion at the US Open. The US Open is a SIX (6)STAR TTR Event, therefore ranked at the highest possible STAR level.
About Go211.com
Go211.com is the leading community and video site for lifestyle sports created by and for action sports athletes and enthusiasts. It’s the place to hang with the pros and friends to get behind-the-scenes video, blogs, photos, webcasts and podcasts from featured contributors along with other action sports fans. Go211.com offers a broad range of exclusive content submitted directly from the athletes. The current Go211 Pro Team roster includes Keir Dillon, Keegan Valaika, Danny Kass, Hannah Teter, Kevin Pearce, Kelly Clark, Jack Mitrani, Ben Watts, Donny Robinson, CJ Hobgood, Christian Hosoi, Holly Beck, Sarah Burke and Mike Losness, among others.