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.