US OPEN EVENT WRAP UP Thursday was the official start of the festivities although riders were showing up almost a week prior taking part in Camp Snowmass or just helping out. Riders registered in the morning and got their chance to practice the Boardercross course in the afternoon and then try out the jumps later in the evening. Thursday ended with an awesome concert put on by the Subdudes. People seemed pretty beat but were excited about the next few days. So much so that the local bars were packed and lots of amatuer video of the day was being shown on the screens until late in the evening. Friday was the start of real racing. Boardercross, for those of you who don't know is typically a 4 man (or woman, or kid) race down a dirt course filled with jumps, berms, turns and other obstacles. This years course was fast and technical and had an amazing "S" turn table top section in the middle of it. In these first heats people that placed 1st or 2nd moved on in the competition and those who took 3rd or 4th we're thrown into a concellation bracket. Basically a losers bracket. But if you were good, or lucky you could battle your way back into the top brackets. Some amazing racing was happening and the 6 year old Grom division looked as determined as the Pro class. By the late afternoon most riders were either eliminated or advanced into their Semi Final brackets that would start on Saturday. Friday afternoon riders got a chance to hit the slopestyle jumps. And there were a lot of jumps. Ranging in size from a 2' kicker for the Groms to a 6' kicker and a 15' gap for the Pros. Riders got a chance to get some good practice in while the TV crews we're doing their thing. Spectators got a nice show and when everyone was done they headed up to the concert venue again where "Dogtown and Z Boys" was being shown on the super giant screen TV. This got people even more psyched about the next and final day. And again for some reason the bars were packed. Saturday. The day when it all went down. Fast and tight races started with the groms and ended with one of the best Pro races of all time. In the Pro finals heat it was reigning US Open Pro BX Champ Leon Robbins against Jason Small and Joel Lee who always seem to be in the finals but can never put it all together. Also in the finals heat was up and comer Justin Dersham who was certainly the underdog of the race but seemed incredibly fast throughout the first two days. When the gate dropped Joel Lee took a slight lead and held it all the way to the finish which was definately the closest finish in US Open Pro history. Next. Slopestyle Finals. Everyone took a lunch break and then geared up for the Slopestyle finals. Riders had the option of a few jumps, a few rails and a few wall ride options. Overall impression was how the runs were scored. Some amazing tricks were being thrown including Dave Stiefvater's huge 1 foot air with multiple tricks to follow, and Sean Vile's double backflip attempt. But in the end it was Leon Robbins who took home the gold with huge, stylish and technical tricks .Combined with his 2nd place finish in BX he took home the Eric Smith Cup, as the overall Pro champion. Congrats to Leon for again showing everyone what the top level of riding is like. A big thanks to Paul Mitchell, The Town of Snowmass Village and all the other sponsors who made this event what it was. And a super big thanks to Mitch Stegall, Dan Dworkin, Frank Leafe, VanDeWitt and everyone else who pulled together and made this another top notch event.
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| © 2006 MBS MOUNTAINBOARDS |
