2007 New Zealand Open - Slopestyle Qualifiers

Aug 09 2007 / Snowpark, New Zealand
Day two of the Burton New Zealand Open has come to a close despite windy conditions and skies that threatened rain in the early a.m. The day got off to a slow start after weather delayed the day’s festivities for nearly an hour but soon the sun broke through and things looked up. No one was more pleased with the day’s outcome than Eric Willett out of Breckenridge, CO who beat out over 80 competitors for the day’s top spot in the men’s Slopestyle qualifications. Willett started off strong with a tailslide 180 frontboard on the C-rail to boardslide 270 out on the high bar. Bombing into the first kicker he pulled off a huge rodeo 5 followed by a switch backside 7 and finished his winning run with a tailslide gap to frontside boardslide on the battleship. Summit County was shown some mad love; Brennen Swanson out of Vail took second in Slope. Swanson started things off with a tailslide 180 frontboard followed up by a boardslide 270 out on the highbar. Coming in hot to the first hit he busted a massive cab 5 rodeo and went right into a backside 9 indy, wrapping things up with a boardslide to frontboard out. Taking 3rd was Alessandro Boyens out of Saas Fee, Germany. The most notable trick during his run came on the second kicker when he pulled something that none of the judges could name, or agree on calling. 360 late corked backside 7? Backside 3 to misty 7? Double axis inverted 1080? Back seven late invert? You tell us, Alex. For now we are calling it the Alessandro-oll.

15 men from 9 countries will advance on and join the 27 invited riders including last year’s winner Kevin Pearce as well as Scotty Lago, Louie Vito and Kazuhiro Kokubo at tomorrow’s Slopestyle Semi-Finals.

1. 256 Eric Willett USA Breckenridge ZION 86.2
2. 249 Brennen Swanson USA Vail RIDE 73.8
3. 179 Alessandro Boyens GER Saas Fee STATIC, 70.2
4. 166 Seppe Smits BEL Westmalle BURTON 69.8
5. 160 Christophe Reynders BEL Houthalen FLOW 66.8
6. 174 Ishida Takahiro JPN Tokyo FORUM 66.2
7. 209 Roland Morley-Brown NZE Takapuna RIDE 64.8
8. 236 Kauk Lonnie USA Mammoth Lakes - 63.8
9. 200 Rudi Kroell AUT Mayrhofen NIKE ACG 63.2
10. 158 Mitchell Allan AUS Berrrara OAKLEY 61.8
11. 187 Scot Brown CAN Clarksburg FLOW 59.8
12. 156 Teddy Karlinski USA Snowmass Village K2 56.7
13. 178 Quentin Robbins NZE Christchurch VOLKL 55.8
14. 193 Victor De le rue FRA Saint Lary BURTON 49.7
15. 181 Josh Warnick USA Mammoth Lakes NITRO 48.2
 
The sun had softened the snow but the breeze had picked up considerably by the time the women took the course in the afternoon qualifications round for women’s slopestyle. 2 kiwis, Shelly Gotlieb and Georgina Allen, advanced on to tomorrows semi’s taking 5th and 7th respectively, but it was Claudia Fliri out of Austria that crushed the competition with a massive overall score of 86.0. Fliri, riding for Volkl, started her run off on the C-rail with a clean 50/50 and went into a 50/50 late 180 out on the straight rail. Keeping speed and riding switch, she came into the first kicker and landed a money cab 5 followed up by a front 3 and finished things off with a 50/50 noseslide. Atomic rider Michelle Shea, out of sunny San Diego, CA took second with a clean run that consisted of a cab 270 boardslide and a 50/50 backside 180 on the top rail section of the slope course.  Into the kickers she pulled off a cab 3 tailgrab and a backside 180 double grab, ending with a noseslide on the battleship. 3rd place went to 16 year-old All Star rider Valerie Reynolds who pulled a noseslide nosegrab followed up by a boardslide on the upper rails. She then pulled off a clean backside 3 melon followed up by a frontside 3 indy and ended with another smooth noseslide.

The top 8 women from today’s qualifiers will advance on to tomorrow’s semis, which will start at 9.15 am in Snow Park, NZ. Joining them will be 13 invited riders including last year’s champion Hana Beaman in addition to Jamie Anderson, Torah Bright and Leanne Pelosi.

1. 180 Claudia Fliri AUT Kramsach VOELKL 86.0
2. 208 Michelle Shea USA San Diego ATOMIC 80.2
3. 196 Valerie Reynolds USA Spokane ALL STAR 72.3
4. 92 Saana Pehkonen FIN Rovaniemi HEAD 67.7
5. 239 Shelly Gotlieb NZE Wanaka ROME 67.2
6. 212 Posy Dixon GBR London BURTON 67.2
7. 137 Georgina Allen NZE Christchurch BURTON 57.5
8. 240 Conaghan Callie AUS Queenstown RPM 53.7

Don't miss the opportunity to see some of the world’s top riders competing in the Slopestyle competitions via LIVE webcast at the 2007 Burton New Zealand tomorrow!  Check out all of the live action HERE on Lat34!

Here's the schedule....

Thursday, August 9 – US (Friday, August, 10 – New Zealand)

EST:            PST:            Event:

5:15-6:05pm        2:15-3:05pm        Slopestyle Semi-Finals WOMEN
6:05-6:35pm         3:05-3:35pm        Warm-Up Run Slopestyle Semi-Finals MEN
6.35-8:05pm         3:35-5:05pm        Slopestyle Semi-Finals MEN
8.05-8.35pm         5:05-5:35pm         Training Slopestyle Finals
8.35-10.05pm         5:35-7:05pm        Slopestyle Finals WOMEN & MEN

The 5th annual Burton New Zealand Open is being held at Snowpark, New Zealand and is the first stop on the Burton Global Open Series, where riders accumulate points towards the Global Open Championship and $100,000 cash to the top male and female. The New Zealand Open is also the second stop and a 5 star event on the TTR World Snowboard Tour and provides riders with the chance to get on the TTR World Ranking list early in the season.