Ouch. Scotty's slam at the Burton New Zealand Open... dramatized.

Snowboard history was made this past weekend on the south island of New Zealand at a tiny valley resort called Cardrona during the first major Snowboard competition of the year... the 2009 Burton New Zealand Open. For the first time in competition riders were attempting the double cork 1080 spins. And they were landing them.

Much of this progression lends itself to the fact that these top riders are all vying for a coveted spot on the Olympic Snowboard Halfpipe team. Only four team spots will be given to the males for the United States, and with over a dozen American riders all skillful and qualified to make the team, many consider the race to get on the U.S. Olympic Snowboarding Halfpipe team much more interesting and competitive than the actual Olympic Competition itself.

Check out Shaun White's winning run from New Zealand with back to back double corks.



And then check out Luke Mitrani's double cork that landed him in the 2nd place position on the podium.

Wow, I feel like such a prat "reporting" this, but here goes. It is confirmed that Snowboarding's own Louie Vito will be on this fall's season of "Dancing With the Stars".

Some fun facts about this situation:

• Todd Richards, snowboard legend and owner of Vito's board sponsor company O'Matic Snowboards, broke the news to the industry via Twitter this morning.
• According to Louie's "Official Website" (www.louievito.com), Louie CAN'T dance
• Also according to his website, Louie has never even seen the show
• The show premiers live on September 21st.
• Louie is asking his fans for all the support he can get. "Please vote and vote often"

Admittedly I just requested tickets to the "live taping" in L.A. Looks like there is a wait-list, but either way you can be sure you'll hear more on this.

Also, big props to Vito for landing the first ever frontside double-cork 1080 in competition this past weekend at the Burton New Zealand Open during Semi's. Louie had the top score going into Finals but was ousted by Shaun White's back-to-back double-corks.

The Swatch TTR 5Star Burton New Zealand Open came to a climactic close today with history making Halfpipe runs from one of the most heavy-hitting rider contingents the NZO has ever seen. US riders and former TTR World Champions Kelly Clark and Shaun White each bagged their first results and Halfpipe titles of the 09/10 season along with 850 TTR ranking points while fellow US pipe shred Mason Aguirre moved into the Tour Lead.

While many riders locked in two results in New Zealand by competing in both the Slopestyle and Halfpipe, White only claimed one TTR result, moving him into World No. 10. Luke Mitrani’s second place moved him into World No. 15, while Kokubo’s third place finish bumped him into the TTR Top 30. After struggling slightly in yesterday’s Slopestyle with a fourteenth place finish, Mason Aguirre managed to bag enough points with a fourth in the pipe to move into Tour Lead ahead of now World No. 2 Sebastien Toutant (CAN). Charles Reid, also from Canada, holds on to TTR World No. 3.

To Read More About This and Shaun Whites Back-2-Back Double Corks Click Here

New Zealand’s largest snowboarding event, the Burton New Zealand Open Snowboarding Championships, came to a close today after four intense days of competition. Part of the Burton Global Open Series and the Swatch Ticket To Ride World Snowboard Tour, the 7th Annual New Zealand Open showcased some the world’s top snowboarders competing in halfpipe and slopestyle competitions for over NZ$50,000 in prize money.



Hundreds of competitors from all over the world flocked to Cardrona Alpine Resort to compete, and action got underway on Wednesday with men’s and women’s slopestyle pre-qualifications and qualifications. Men’s and women’s halfpipe qualifications went down on Thursday, followed by men’s and women’s slopestyle semifinal and finals on Friday with Jamie Anderson (USA) and Sebastien Toutant (CAN) riding away with the top spots worth $6,000 each.



Saturday saw a field of 40 men and 21 women compete for the halfpipe titles worth NZ$6,000. In the women’s competition Kelly Clark and Jiayu Liu battled it out in semifinals with huge amplitude and clean spins, while Elizabeth Beerman just bumped Kiwi Kendall Brown from advancing on to final. Louie Vito placed first in the men’s semifinal competition, followed closely by Luke Mitrani in second and Shaun White in third.



Halfpipe finals consisted of three runs each for men and women, with the women first to drop. The Asian contingent finished strong taking four of the top eight spots in the women’s finals, with Zhifeng Sun from China taking third. Her winning run featured an impressive frontside 900. Jiayu Liu (CHN) rode away with second with a run that featured back-to-back 720s and back-to-back 540s. But it was Kelly Clark that pulled it out with a whopping score of 83.67. Her winning run started with a massive frontside air followed by a backside 540 indy, into a frontside 720 tailgrab, followed by a Cab 720, finishing with a frontside 540 indy. Clark had this to say of her win, “I felt really good today; I got to try new things. I like progressing, and when you ride against a solid group of competitors it pushes me to do more. I’m happy that I did well for my first contest of the summer, especially going in to an Olympic year.”



History was made today during the men’s halfpipe finals. The best and most progressive riding ever witnessed went down, the crowd and judges were blown away by the double cork and spin combinations they were seeing. Kazuhiro Kokubo finished in third with a run that featured a huge McTwist, a frontside 900 tailgrab, an alleyoop chuck nose grab, and a frontside 1080 indy. Luke Mitrani took second with a run that included a double inverted 900 melon, a frontside 720 indy, a Cab 720 mute and a frontside 900 tailgrab. But it was Shaun White who was able to come from behind in semifinals to win the $6,000 top spot. His winning run started with a frontside lien air, to backside 900 melon, followed by a frontside 1080 stalefish, into a Cab double cork 1080 stalefish, to frontside double cork 900. No one was more pleased with the win than White himself, as he had this to say of his victory, “I’m proud to win today. This was the heaviest event that I have ever been in. That’s saying a lot, as I have been in a lot of these. ”



With the Burton New Zealand Open finished, the next stop in the BGOS is the European Open, taking place January 9-16, 2010 in Laax, Switzerland. The European Open is the second stop on the 2009-2010 Burton Global Open Series. Jamie Anderson and Mason Aguirre are currently in the lead for the Burton Global Open Series Championship titles and a piece of the $200,000 prize purse.



With his third result of the 09/10 season, Mason Aguirre takes over the top position on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour followed by Sebastien Toutant in second and Charles Reid in third. Jamie Anderson maintains her lead of the women's ranking. With only two results on her account so far, 08/09 Swatch TTR World Champion Kelly Clark moves into world no. 7 with her victory in New Zealand.
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