Czeschin Wins Chevrolet Grand Prix Overall Title

U.S. Snowboarding pro rider Tommy Czeschin (Mammoth Lakes, CA) added another highlight to his already outstanding season Saturday winning both the final halfpipe of the 2007 Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix series and the overall Grand Prix title at snowy Tamarack Resort.

Olympic silver medalist Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, CO) was also victorious, while Kelly Clark (Mount Snow, VT), who won the opening two events but did not compete at Tamarack, took the women's overall crown.

With the wins, both Czeschin and Clark were awarded a new Chevrolet Truck, marking the 11th straight season that Chevrolet has provided the overall series prize. The halfpipe will air on Versus Sunday, March 4 at 3 p.m. ET and also on NBC at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 10.

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Louie Vito (Bellefontaine, OH) and U.S. Snowboarding Rookie team rider Matt Ladley (Steamboat Springs, CO) capped the men's podium with Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT) and Tricia Byrnes (also Stratton Mountain) going 2-3 for the women as U.S. Snowboarding riders took all six podium spots.

Big payday for Czeschin
"I wasn't expecting this, so it's pretty awesome," said Czeschin, who was third at both the Breckenridge and Mt. Bachelor Grand Prix's. "I tied for the overall title in '05 with Ross Powers, so this feels good - I won a truck and $14,000 for first today, you do the math on that one, but it's a lot. It's a good day for sure."

As one of the first riders to consistently stomp 1080s, Czeschin, a member of the 2002 Olympic Team, has been a solid example of snowboarding progression. With a second run score of 42.8, Czeschin's winning run included a cab 720 nose grab, frontside air, backside air, frontside 900 stalefish, backside 540 mute to a cab 720 mute on the 22-foot Tamarack
"SuperPipe."

"Tommy has been on a roll and is working so hard to continue his snowboarding progression," said U.S. Snowboarding Head Coach Mike Jankowski. "You'll see some veteran riders plateau at some point in their career, but Tommy is the exception to that rule. Same with Gretchen, she's by no means close to peaking and just continues to work so hard. They are perfect examples for our young riders because they're very professional and when they come to complete, they have a plan -that's why they're constantly on the top."

Props to Tamarack
As a brand new venue for the Grand Prix series, riders gave Tamarack Resort big marks for both the pipe and contest layout saying that the facilities were perfect all the way around.

"Tamarack did such an amazing job with this event," said Bleiler, who linked a 45.8 point first run that included a cippler, backside 540, frontside 540, straight air and a frontside 720. "Having a pipe this big really does a lot for the progression of the sport. It was snowing pretty hard today, so it was hard to keep speed for big tricks, but everyone was going huge all week in practice. The crowd was awesome and just everything about being here was so good."

Bleiler also said she's going to hang in Idaho for a week to do some filming in the backcountry before going to Lake Placid, NY for the State Farm U.S. Snowboard Cup set for March 8-11 at Whiteface.

"This is the kind of pipe we'll be looking at during the 2010 Olympics," said Jankowski. "It seems like a long ways away, but it's not too early to start getting used to a pipe this big and Tamarack did an awesome job building this thing - everything about being here was great. They did a great job welcoming this event and I know all the riders were are stoked on it."

Rookie uprising
The top-level competition series for snowboarding, riders move up to the Grand Prix level through the Chevrolet Revolution Tour, where Ladley won two halfpipe events earlier this season before cracking his first Grand Prix podium at Tamarack. Also solidifying the U.S. Snowboarding pipeline is Vito, who was on the rookie team last season and has now stepped up to take his second Grand Prix podium this season.

"Matt has been so fun to work with and really fits well with this team," added Jankowski. "This validates the rookie team program that we started last year. Louie was on that first team, then had a breakout season last year to make the pro team, now he's on his second Grand Prix podium. These guys are the future of this sport and we're seeing it already happening."

In the women's contest, fourth place finisher Brooke Shaw (Stratton Mountain, VT) and Kaitlyn Farrington (Bellevue, ID), who was eighth, have both won Revolution Tour events this season, prior to stepping up to the finals at Tamarack.

Action continues from Tamarack Resort Sunday with the VISA U.S. Snowboardcross Championships, where X Games gold medalist Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA), who grew up in nearby Sandpoint, will look to continue his podium streak, while Jacobellis guns for her second podium in two days.
Photos from Tamarack are available at http://ussa.smugmug.com.

Check out the complete Tamarack schedule at
http://www.tamarackidaho.com/special_offers/grand_prix.php

Halfpipe Finals Results

Men
1. Tommy Czeschin, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 42.8
2. Louie Vito, Bellefountain, OH, 42.2
3. Matt Ladley, Steamboat Springs, CO, 41.5
4. Luke Wynen, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 39.9
5. Jake Black, Dillon, CO, 39.8
6. Mike Goldschmidt, Stratton Mountain, VT, 39.2
7. Greg Bretz, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 38.3
8. Ben Watts, Bend, OR, 37.1
9. Jeremy Thompson, Elka Park, NY, 35.6
10. Rob Kingwill, Jackson Hole, WY, 34.7
11. Scotty Lago, Seabrook, NH, 33.8
12. Ben Kilner, Great Britain, 33.0
13. Steve Fisher, Breckenridge, CO, 30.9
14. Elijah Teter, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 28.5
15. Jeff Meon, South Hadley, MA, 26.2
16. Kory Wright, Canada, 5.1

Women
1. Gretchen Bleiler, Aspen, CO, 45.8
2. Lindsey Jacobellis, Stratton Mountain, VT, 41.1
3. Tricia Byrnes, Stratton Mountain, VT, 37.4
4. Brooke Shaw, Stratton Mountain, VT, 33.7
5. Leslie Glenn, Breckenridge, CO, 30.7
6. Meg Pugh, Bend, OR, 27.2
7. Paula Mitchell, New Zealand, 23.7
8. Kaitlyn Farrington, Bellevue, ID, 22.0

For complete details on the 2007 Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix tour,
log on to http://www.ussnowboarding.com/grandprix.

--US Snowboarding