ill23 Snowboarding

But let’s back up for a minute, because the day was supposed to be about the slopestyle. The course consisted of a few jib features and then a four-kicker line, giving the riders plenty of chances to earn points. Unfortunately, the final two jumps were “only good if you were Finnish” according to Josh Sherman, who ended up somewhere around 10th. Taking the title was Janne Korpi, who threw down a backside 9 into a cab 9, a 720 and a frontside 1080 on the final kicker. He also rode the rails, but let’s face it, jumping wins contests. Brandon Reis, who is not Finnish, but by his riding very well could be, took second and rounding out the podium was another Finn, Peetu Piiroinen.

If the guys were having trouble with the jumps, well the girls, we’ll just leave that that to Pat Bridges, who said it best. “It was a really good contest, all three girls rode really well!”

See now I don’t look like the jerk! Anyway, the contest was mostly between the podium finishers, Jamie Anderson, Marry Sallah and Claudia Fliri. Any of the three women could have taken first place, but after her second run, which included cab 540, frontside 360 and a frontside 720, Claudia took top honors.

Claudia Fliri

After the awards it was immediately over to the pipe, where the lights were already becoming necessary. The 8 women and 16 men took two runs each to crown not only the champion for the day, but the tour champion as well.

Show stealer Greg Bretz

In the women’s division there wasn’t really much of a contest. It was pretty clear Kelly Clark would take it, and was far enough ahead in the overall rankings that unless Ellery Hollingsworth pulled out a win, she would take the truck as well. But despite that fact, the other girls definitely stepped up to bat, throwing 9’s and the like to try and take down Kelly’s massive airs and technical run. Kelly Marren threw a perfect backside 900, although it wasn’t quite enough to get her on the podium. Ellery threw a frontside 9 for second and Clair Bidez had a solid run including a big 720 to take third. When all was said and done Kelly took the title with a giant frontside air, backside 5, frontside 5, huge method and a backside 7. She ended up with too much speed to finish her run with a cab 3, which she meant to take care of her next run. Unfortunately the temperature was dropping, and her next run she got bucked by her first hit. Instead of the run she was trying, she ended up doing giant victory airs the entire way down, but she’d already won.

Kelly takes it!

The men’s event was not such a sure thing. The battle for the truck and the overall title was between Louie Vito and Elijah Teter, either of whom could win. Also in the mix were the Finn’s, including Janne Korpi who had qualified first. On his first run, Louie Vito threw down a frontside 10 into a cab 10, then a frontside 9, backside 9 and then a frontside corked 720. As he finished the flawless run, the crowd seemed to agree they had just witnessed the winning run. But it wasn’t over yet, and many more strong runs were yet to come. In his second run, Greg Bretz came out of left field with a front 9 into a back 9, a huge air to fakie then a cab 7 and a frontside 1080, all on a broken board. The run was good enough to place him in second, but the Finnish contingent was yet to go. The battle between Janne and Peetu continued from the slopestyle course into the pipe and both threw runs worthy of the podium. But the judges decided Peetu’s run – a frontside 7, cab 10, big frontside air, backside 9, air-to-fakie and then a cab 9 – was good enough for the bronze. Elijah Teter bailed on a 1080 attempt, ending his hopes to beat Vito and take home the Chevy. When all was said and done, Vito’s score had held, Bretz took second and Piiroinen 3rd.

Louie looks fierce!

While the weather was typical for east coast in March (it changed about every five minutes) it really is fortunate that the event fell after day lights savings time, because the Grand Prix definitely took advantage of that extra hour. But seriously, the event was a great preview of what’s the come next week at the US Open, where there will be an even more stacked field and a bigger pipe.

Elijah Teter

Steve Fisher

Women’s pipe podium

Men’s pipe podium

Yay for new trucks!

Kelly Marren

Chris Waker

Jamie Anderson

Janne Korpi, what.

Josh Sherman

Check back tomorrow for exclusive videos from the Grand Prix.