It has been a long, beautiful and memorable year for the Burton Global Open Series. Burton New Zealand Open, Australian Open, European Open, Canadian Open, Nissan X-Trail Asian Open and this weekend's US Open World Championships in Stratton, Vermont. So far, Kass the character and Torah from down under took top honors in the pipe Saturday, while Buass and Lago won the quarterpipe competition on Friday. The slopestyle is going on as we speak, so check back later for final cumulative results for the BGOS 09 as a whole. Another year down again!

KASS WINS FIFTH BURTON US OPEN OF CAREER, BUASS AND LAGO WIN BURTON US OPEN QUARTERPIPE

HALFPIPE--
Two time Olympic silver medalist Danny Kass (Portland, OR) took to the pipe in Stratton Saturday to rally the fifth US Open win of his career. Australia's Torah Bright locked down her second win in a row to lead the women's field.

"There's something about East Coast pipe and weather like this. I hurt my shoulder last year so I'm psyched to come back to the US Open and win," Kass said. "It's incredible. I grew up on the East Coast, so I would always come here and watch my favorite riders."

"Danny getting his fifth US Open win, we're obviously proud of him as a U.S. rider. He's showing he's got what it takes and is making a push to get back to his third Olympics," U.S. Snowboarding Halfpipe Head Coach Mike Jankowski said.

Finland's Peetu Piiroinen followed Kass, finishing second, and Luke Mitrani (Mammoth Lakes, CA) was third.

In the women's competition Bright overtook Clark for the win, but the 2002 Olympic gold medalist was satisfied with the season's final event.

"It was a great day. There was a lot of really good snowboarding. Torah rode amazingly and I got to try my nine again. It was awesome," Clark said.

"Kelly was able to get up there with second place. She obviously came to win, but she can't be disappointed with a podium performance," Jankowski added.

Following Clark for the first Burton US Open podium of her career was Stratton Mountain School student and U.S. Snowboarding athlete Ellery Hollingsworth (Stratton, VT).

"For Ellery, she had a stand out performance for her first US Open podium. It was a strong field and she's really proven herself as a top notch professional at a young age," Jankowski said.

With the season's final competition wrapped athletes now turn to summer training in the lead up to 2010.

"From here we'll have some spring training and really just push things into high gear for Vancouver," Jankowski said. "We're right on track and everything is in place for more great things to happen this year."

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2009 BURTON US OPEN HALFPIPE
Stratton Mountain, VT - March 21, 2009

Men
1. Danny Kass, Portland, OR, 93.50
2. Peetu Piiroinen, Finlane, 91.83
3. Luke Mitrani, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 89.83
4. Charles Reid, Canada, 82.50
5. Steve Fisher, Breckenridge, CO, 82.00

Women
1. Torah Bright, Australia, 96.00
2. Kelly Clark, Mt. Snow, VT, 93.33
3. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 87.00
4. Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas, Norway, 84.67
5. Gretchen Bleiler, Aspen, CO, 82.00

QUARTERPIPE--
Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas and Scotty Lago earned the first titles of this year's US Open, taking home top honors and $10,000 in cash for their overall impression on the judges after the quarterpipe jam. In addition, Buaas took home another $3,000 after boosting 16' and Luke Mitrani launched 25' and won $3,000 each compliments of Amp Energy for the highest air in the quarterpipe competition.

Kjersti impressed the judges with her big backside airs, air to fakies and going for broke with different grabs. Buaas had this to say about her big win, "It hasn't really sunk in yet, I never ride quarterpipe, I didn't know what to expect. I tried to take things from the halfpipe and use them in the quarterpipe, and it really paid off."

Scotty Lago wowed the crowds by pulling out every trick in the book and scored points with his clean style and lofty airs. Lago spun frontside and backside, throwing down tricks like a frontside 720 truckdriver and a corked back 540. "I really wanted to do well," said Lago. "The jam format was awesome. I have been coming to the US Open for 13 years and this is the first time that I have been on the podium, I'm so excited."

Daniel Ek of Norway took 2nd for the men and Sebastien Toutant (CAN) placed 3rd, taking home $5,000 and $2,500 respectively. For the ladies, Lisa Wiik (NOR) placed second and took home $5,000 and Elena Hight (USA) won $2,500 for third.

After an insane night of riding, the quarterpipe crowds were treated to a free RJD2 show.

It was an epic day of stellar Halfpipe riding in Stratton, Vermont, as Finnish rider Peetu Piiroinen became the 08/09 Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion at the 6Star Burton U.S. Open. Both the men' (TM)s and women' (TM)s fields were stacked with some of the best pipe riders in the world, with Australian Torah Bright winning the women' (TM)s pipe title and veteran U.S. pipe rider Danny Kass claiming his 5th U.S. Open Halfpipe win amidst a roaring crowd and bluebird skies.

The 8-women and 16-men final amped up the competition considerably. The battle for the Swatch TTR World Title was set early on between U.S. shredder Shaun White and Peetu Piiroinen, but with Shaun out of the contest due to an injured ankle, all Peetu had to do was finish 8th or higher to become the Tour Champion.

The amplitude was huge, the grabs were boned out and the spins super smooth as riders like Charles Reid (CAN), Louie Vito (USA), and fellow Finnish rider Markus Malin gave Peetu a run for his money. Luke Mitrani (USA) set the bar high on his first run that included an insane Switch Double Backflip that ultimately landed him 3rd place.

Danny Kass, a long time Halfpipe competitor and no stranger to the U.S. Open flew under the radar until his third run where he stomped a Frontside 10, Cab 10, Backside 720 and a Switch Alley-oop 540 to become the most successful
Halfpipe competitor in U.S. Open history, bagging his 5th title. Peetu Piiroinen however, managed to improve on his first run immensely, sticking a Frontside 720, Cab 1080, Alley-oop Backside Rodeo, Frontside Alley-oop, Fronside 540 and a Backside 720. Peetu' (TM)s second place finish in the U.S. Open pipe clinched his place in history as the 08/09 Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion.

' I just heard that I won the TTR,' said Peetu after the pipe finals. ' It feels good, it feels good. I am the first Finnish guy to win that, so it' (TM)s super cool. I' (TM)m so stoked.'

Similarly, the women kept the high-caliber competition consistent with a roller coaster finale. They kept it close right up
until their third and final drops with Kjersti Oestgaard-Buaas, Ellery Hollingsworth, Gretchen Bleiler and Kelly Clark all stepping things up. Clark seemed to have a firm grasp on first place after her first run but a big surprise came from Torah Bright on her third and final run. Bright had some big trouble on her first two attempts but took first place with her last run that included a 720 Indy, Crippler, Backside 360 Indy, a sick Switch Backside 720 and a Backside 540. U.S. rider Ellery Hollingsworth rounded out the women' (TM)s podium in third.

' It feels good,' said Torah after standing atop the podium. ' It feels good. I only just realized that this was the first Open that I 've done all year and TTR event. So I am just happy to be here, in one piece and put together this good run and won.'

The U.S. Open also saw some big changes in the Women' (TM)s TTR Top 5 setting up for an intense day of Slopestyle riding tomorrow. Lisa Wiik (NOR) finished in ninth place today moving her into World No. 2 behind current Tour leader Jamie Anderson (USA). Sarka Pancochova (CZE) moved into World No. 3, and Kelly Clark snuck into World No. 5.

And, even with the Tour Champion crowned, male riders like Chas Guldemond (USA), Kevin Pearce, Antti Autti (FIN) and Risto Mattila (FIN) will be attempting to defend their spots in the TTR Top 5. Interestingly, if Shaun White heals up
enough to ride tomorrow, despite not competing today, he still has a chance to move into TTR World No. 2.

To check out all the action that took place today at the 6Star Burton U.S. Open, including detailed news, full rankings and video highlights, head on over to www.ttrworldtour.com. Also log on to www.go211.com for full replays of today' (TM)s events and live coverage of tomorrow' (TM)s Slopestyle competition.

Peetu Piiroinen at Burton US Open

As reported on www.forbes.com by Kurt Badenhausen

Snowboarder Shaun White was down to his last chance after falling during his first two runs of the men's half-pipe competition at last month's Winter X Games. It was the culminating event in the four day contest that drew 68,000 fans to Aspen, Colo. Once again, White delivered. He ripped off a stellar final run that included back-to-back 1080s (three complete rotations in the air) to win the gold.

White's payday for winning one of his sport's biggest competitions: a paltry $30,000. By comparison, Geoff Ogilvy earned $1.1 million for winning golf's 2009 opening event, the Mercedes-Benz Championship.
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But the snowboarding and skateboarding phenom crowned the Flying Tomato will get his money. We estimate that White earned $9 million in 2008 thanks to lucrative endorsement deals with Burton, Hewlett-Packard, Oakley, Red Bull and Target. His earnings are almost entirely from sponsors, as yearly prize money for skateboarders and snowboarders rarely tops $100,000. White's endorsement take is greater than any baseball or football player outside of quarterback Peyton Manning.

CLICK HERE FOR A SLIDESHOW OF THE HIGHEST-PAID ACTION SPORTS STARS IN PICTURES

White is the Tiger Woods of today's action sports stars. He wins more than anybody else, and his fame far eclipses that of his competition. Other action sports stars are starting to get noticed by a broader audience, and that has meant bigger paychecks, thanks to rich sponsorship deals.

With this in mind, we decided to take a look at who makes what in action sports. Through interviews with industry experts we estimated 2008 earnings for the top stars in the more traditional sports like snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing and BMX. We excluded Motocross racing, which straddles the line between action sports and motor sports and top riders like Chad Reed and James Stewart can make as much as $5 million racing around a dirt track.

The top 10 earners in 2008 were all male. Top female snowboarders like Torah Bright, Gretchen Bleiler and Hannah Teter make as much as $750,000 annually, but that fell short of our $1 million cut off.
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Shaun White is the top earner among the current crop of action sports stars, but the highest-paid guy in the game is still Tony Hawk, the godfather of action sports. Hawk retired from competitive skating in 1999 at the age of 31, but he has built a thriving business that earned him $12 million last year. Hawk dominated skateboard competitions through the 1980s and '90s, winning 71% of the events that he entered during his 17-year career. Despite his success, Hawk found that he could not support his family financially by just competing, so he launched his own skateboard company, Birdhouse Projects, in 1992.

Hawk parlayed his skating success into a business empire that includes his own Boom Boom Huckjam action sports tour, a clothing line available at Kohl's and Tony Hawk's Big Spin roller coasters at Six Flags. He also created a videogame with Activision, "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater," that launched in 1999. It is one of the best-selling videogame franchises of all time with $1.2 billion in sales since its launch. The latest version hits stores in October. Today, Tony Hawk Inc. employs 30 people at offices outside of San Diego. Last year, Tony Hawk branded product sales were $200 million.

Hawk is still a big name with teens, despite being retired for 10 years. TRU, a market research firm focused on the under-30 set, does an annual study on awareness and likability of celebrities. The top athlete in its 2008 report amongst teens was Hawk, ahead of the likes of LeBron James and Derek Jeter. That is why companies like Activision, Quiksilver, Sirius and T-Mobile are still quick to partner with him.

Corporate money has been pouring into action sports in recent years as the popularity of these sports has taken off with consumers. Participation in skateboarding increased 74% between 1998 and 2007 to 10.1 million participants, the fastest growth of any sport in the U.S. Snowboarding registered the third fastest growth over the same 10-year period, up 42% to 5.1 million participants according to the National Sporting Goods Association.

"These sports are so much fun for participants and accessibility is much better than 20 years ago," says Bob Klein, an action sports pioneer who built the first snowboard half pipe and later became an agent for boarders including Shaun Palmer and Danny Kass.

Walt Disney's ESPN has been hugely influential in expanding the reach of these sports through the X-Games. ESPN launched the first summer competition in 1995 that was billed as the Extreme Games, featuring sports like bungee jumping, eco-challenge, sky surfing and street luge, all events that no longer exist. The Winter X-Games joined the party in 1997.

NBC launched its own action sports competition in 2005, the Dew Tour. The tour features five-stops over four months with prize money totaling $2.5 million, the biggest purse in action sports. Big sponsors on last year's Dew Tour included Sony, Toyota and Wendy's International.

The latest big brand to enter the fray is Gatorade. The sports drink leader announced plans for its first big push into action sports earlier this year. The PepsiCo subsidiary signed three up-and-coming action sports athletes to endorsement deals including 14-year skateboarding phenom Chaz Ortiz.

Peter Carlisle, who heads the Olympics and Action Sports division of sports agency Octagon, says, "Action sports provide a unique platform to reach the masses and the younger demo that is particularly hard to reach through mass marketing."

Good news for today's action sports stars.