Photos by Phil Erickson courtesy of Burton

"Cracker of a day". That's New Zealand slang for "It's a really nice day here". I learned it this morning when the kiwi PR girl sent me an email letting me know the exciting news for the days Halfpipe Qualification rounds. The previous day's Slopestyle qualifications had been held under absolute crap weather, so you can understand how it was exciting news when the weather took an unexpected turn for the better.

So bluebird it was, and subsequently some decent riding got dolled out. Over 100 riders had to vie for a spot in the top 10 men and 5 women that would move onto Saturday's main event- Halfpipe Semi-Finals and Halfpipe Finals.

To keep it somewhat short (You can check the Burton Global Open Series website if you want to make it long) it was little Norweigen Stale "Style" Sandbech who showed everyone how it's done. His run consisted of back to back 7's, a couple 540's and a massive backside air tailgrab. (Stale's tailgrabs are insane. Hopefully someone, somewhere got a photo of that.)

Fun trivia fact for you. Stale Standbech is the little brother of Frode Sandbech, one of Transworld Snowboarding Magazine's talented Senior Photographers. Stale does everything BUT ride his brothers successful coattails. When you are lucky enough to see the kid ride in person you'll understand how. Keep an eye out for that one.

In an interesting turn of international affairs, only one American squeaked thru qualifications today. Coming in 10th was Steamboat Springs, CO native Taylor Gold. With a start list of 100 riders, even 10th is pretty damn impressive.

So, these top 10 Men move on to face the likes of pre-qualified halfpipe riders Danny Davis, Shaun White, Danny Kass, Scotty Lago, Luke Mitrani, Mason Aguirre and more. (No pressure guys.) Congrats on making it through.

The girls had a better day today with the weather abiding. U.S. rider Clair Bidez took it for the women. The five ladies who made it thru today are up against the legendary Kelly Clark and new-to-pipe-but-kills-it Jamie Anderson. Jamie actually won the pipe event last year, and I do believe it was the first professional pipe contest she has ever entered, although Jamie is a long-time and well-known dominatrix when it comes to Slopestyle. Girl goes big.

RESULTS:

Halfpipe Qualifications Men
1 Stale Sandbech NOR Oslo Oakley
2 Tore Holvik NOR Geilo Sweet
3 Johann Baisamy FRA Neuvecelle Billabong
4 Dimi Jong NED Den Haag O'Neill
5 Kleivdal Roger NOR Geilo Sweet
6 Stewart Ben NZL Whaangamata O'Neill
7 Christian Haller SUI Zernez Burton
8 Steve Krijbolder NED Zoetermeer O'Neill
9 Shuhei Sato JPN Asahikawa Gray
10 Taylor Gold USA Steamboat Springs Burton


Halfpipe Qualifications Women
1 Clair Bidez USA Minturn Nikita
2 Ryoko Iijima JPN Saitamaken Moss
3 Silvia Mittermueller GER Mnchen Oakley
4 Ursina Haller SUI Zernez K2
5 Naho Mizuki JPN Inuyama Aichi Ride

Come back later and we'll fill you in. The good stuff is yet to come. (Finals, they are really what matter at the 2009 Burton New Zealand Open anyway.)