Shaun White & Torah Bright Win Nissan X-Trail Nippon Open Halfpipe Competition

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Kevin Pearce & Hana Beaman Win Nippon Open Park Style Finals

ALTS-Bandai Resort, JPN (February 26, 2007) -Today the Burton Global Open Series presented by Motorola announced halfpipe and park style final results for the 2007 Nissan X-Trail Nippon Open. Olympic gold medalist Shaun White and Australian Torah Bright dominated Sunday’s halfpipe competition while Kevin Pearce and Hana Beaman took the top spots in Saturday’s park style competition. Shaun and Torah each earned $20,000 for their halfpipe wins with Kevin and Hana taking home $15,000 each.

“I’m just super happy that I rode as well as I did…I really needed this,” said Shaun White. “I was up all night last night icing my ankle, so this competition really felt like a battle against myself. My first two runs were solid, and I knew I was in the lead. But everyone was riding so well that I wanted to seal the deal with my last run, which was definitely my best. I also want to thank Keir Dillon, who wrapped my sore ankle – I’m definitely going to want to tip the dealer after today’s win.”

In the halfpipe finals, the riders were treated to bluebird conditions and a very enthusiastic crowd. All competitors had three runs, with their best run counting towards the championship. The ladies took on the pipe first, with Torah taking the lead from the start. Her winning run included a backside 5, air to fakie, Cab 7, frontside 5 and backside 3, all with solid, stylish grabs. Japan’s own Yayoi Tamura stoked out the crowds and earned second place with a run that included a backside air, frontside 5 melon grab, McTwist, frontside 7 ending with a Cab 3. Swiss rider Manuela Pesko took third place with a backside 5, frontside 7 melon grab, Cab 3 melon grab, tailgrab, backside air ending with a frontside melon grab.

In the men’s competition, Shaun White had about a ten-point lead after his first run. But as the competition continued, Shaun’s lead narrowed. Danny Davis’ final run definitely put the pressure on Shaun, who had to drop directly after him. After two low scoring runs, Danny came back with a super impressive run that included a frontside 1080 to a Cab 1080, a backside alley oop grab, a backside 9 and a frontside 9. Shaun had one more run to seal the deal, and he definitely rose to the challenge. Shaun’s final run was his best and started with a beautiful frontside 540 stalefish grab, backside 9, frontside 9, backside 540, frontside 1080 and ending with a backside 1080. The crowd went wild and gave Shaun the best compliment they can give, yelling: “bonsai, bonsai, bonsai!”. Danny Davis’ run earned him second place and Japanese rider Ryo Aono took third place with a backside 540, back-to-back 900s, frontside 1080 and a Cab 720.

On Saturday, February 24 the park style finals went off at ALTS-Bandai resort under sunny skies with Kevin Pearce (USA) and Hana Beaman (USA) scoring the top spots on the podium. In the men’s competition, Shaun White took a close second place followed by Mason Aguirre in third place. Kelly Clark (USA) earned second place and Izumi Amaike (JPN) took third in the women’s finals. Hana Beaman had two super solid runs that included a backside 7 on the kicker and a mute grab on the hip. Kevin’s final run clinched the win for him with a nice Cab 9 on the kicker followed by a lofty Cab 5, which was easily the biggest, smoothest air of the contest.

Shaun, Torah, Kevin and Hana all earned 8000 points towards the $100,000 Burton Global Open Series male and female championship title, which will be awarded at the 25^th Annual US Open Snowboarding Championships, taking place from March 14-18 at Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont. Currently, Mason Aguirre leads the BGOS male standings with 24,937 points and Ellery Hollingsworth leads the female standings with 23,790 points.

Nissan X-Trail Nippon Open 2007is part of the 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 TTR World Champion at the US Open. For more information and current TTR rankings, visit www.ttrworldtour.com.

About the Burton Global Open Series, Presented by Motorola
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 Europe, Japan, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, the Opens set the standard for snowboarding events around the globe. For more information, visit www.opensnowboarding.com or www.motorola.com/burton

Source:
Dawn De La Fuente
Burton Snowboards

John Wernecke
Motorola, Inc.