{"id":6641,"date":"2009-03-21T18:52:52","date_gmt":"2009-03-22T01:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=6641"},"modified":"2009-03-21T21:01:42","modified_gmt":"2009-03-22T04:01:42","slug":"kass-bright-win-again-at-us-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=6641","title":{"rendered":"Kass, Bright Win Again At US Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Danny<\/a>Okay, so the big question from those of us who did not make the pilgrimage to Vermont for the US Open of Snowboarding<\/a><\/strong> was, “Where the hell is Shaun White<\/strong>?” But then, that’s how well we’ve been following along lately. Because if we’d been paying attention we would have know that he pulled out of the competition this morning only hours before the start with a “severely sprained left ankle,” according to the International Herald Tribune<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That appears to have left the door open for almost anyone to win and Danny Kass<\/strong> was the one who casually walked through the open door to win the US Open Halfpipe Title for a record fifth time with a run that included “a frontside 1080, Cab 1080, frontside 900, backside 720, ending with a switch alley-oop 540.”<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel amazing, I am beyond stoked that this is my fifth win,\u201d said Danny Kass. \u201cIt feels great to come out again and put together some runs. I was feeling it today for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the women’s side Torah Bright <\/strong>tied Kelly Clark’s<\/strong> record for the most US Open halfpipe wins. They each have three.<\/p>\n

Torah Bright\u2019s final run stole the show when she dropped in switch, starting off with Cab 720 indy, followed by a crippler, backside 360 indy, switch backside 720 ending with a backside 540. Kelly had one more chance to top Torah\u2019s amazing 96 points, but she fell on her last run.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For the rest of the official details (and the results) follow the jump for the press release.
\nSTRATTON, VT (March 21, 2009) \u2013 Epic weather and an impeccable halfpipe greeted 15,000 fans and many of the world\u2019s top snowboarders at the US Open Snowboarding Championships held at Stratton Mountain Resort. No strangers to the top spot on the US Open halfpipe podium, Danny Kass took home his record-setting fifth US Open halfpipe title and Torah Bright earned her third US Open halfpipe title. Bright earned a bonus $3,000 and the Amp Energy Best Trick award for her stylish switch backside 720 while Luke Mitrani claimed his second Amp Energy Best Trick award with a crowd-pleasing switch double back flip.<\/p>\n

The women dropped in first, and Kelly Clark took the top spot early on in the competition with a frontside air, backside 540 mute grab, frontside 720 indy, Cab 720 ending with a frontside 540 earning an impressive 93 points. It wasn\u2019t until the third and final runs that Kelly lost her hold on first place. Torah Bright\u2019s final run stole the show when she dropped in switch, starting off with Cab 720 indy, followed by a crippler, backside 360 indy, switch backside 720 ending with a backside 540. Kelly had one more chance to top Torah\u2019s amazing 96 points, but she fell on her last run.<\/p>\n

Torah\u2019s run earned her a coveted spot in the US Open history books, tying Kelly for the most US Open women\u2019s halfpipe titles. \u201cI feel great,\u201d said Torah. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize that I tied with Kelly for the most wins. It feels really good, especially because the US Open is such a special event.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s finals, Luke Mitrani was the star of the first runs with his signature switch double back flip. Last year\u2019s Burton Global Open Series champion Peetu Piiroinen\u2019s second run earned him first place for a little while and included a frontside 720, Cab 1080, alley-oop backside rodeo, frontside alley-oop, a frontside 540 ending with a backside 720. But it was the third run when the podium order changed after snowboarding superstar Danny Kass took the first place title with a winning run that included a frontside 1080, Cab 1080, frontside 900, backside 720, ending with a switch alley-oop 540.<\/p>\n

Danny had this to say about his record-breaking fifth US Open halfpipe title, \u201cI feel amazing, I am beyond stoked that this is my fifth win,\u201d said Danny Kass. \u201cIt feels great to come out again and put together some runs. I was feeling it today for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

As if the action in the US Open halfpipe wasn\u2019t enough, Santigold, whose album \u2018Santogold\u2019 landed at number six on Rolling Stone\u2019s top albums of 2008, took to the stage for a free concert following the awards ceremony.<\/p>\n

After today\u2019s halfpipe finals, riders only have one more chance at tomorrow\u2019s slopestyle finals to earn points towards the $100,000 BGOS title. Currently, Chas Guldemond (USA) and Charles Reid (CAN) are a mere 500 points apart for snowboarding\u2019s biggest single payout. On the women\u2019s side, Jamie Anderson (USA) still has a healthy 5000 point lead ahead of Silvia Mittermueller for the BGOS title.<\/p>\n

Peetu Piirionen and Shaun White were neck and neck in the Swatch TTR World Tour Champion title race, but with Peetu placing second today in halfpipe he has clinched the 2008\/2009 TTR World Champion title. The TTR World Tour award ceremony will happen tomorrow following slopestyle finals where Peetu will be presented with the TTR World Tour Champion trophy and a total of $110,000 will be paid out to the TTR Top 5.<\/p>\n

The 27th Annual US Open wraps up tomorrow with the junior jam halfpipe competition, followed by men\u2019s and women\u2019s slopestyle finals, after which three major titles will be awarded: the $100,000 Burton Global Open Series men\u2019s and women\u2019s title, the Volvo Most Valuable Rider Award and the Men\u2019s Swatch TTR World Tour Champion award.<\/p>\n

MEN’S HP FINALS<\/strong>
\nRANK\tCOMPETITOR\tNATION
\n1\tDanny Kass\tUSA
\n2\tPeetu Piiroinen\tFIN
\n3\tLuke Mitrani\tUSA
\n4\tCharles Reid\tCAN
\n5\tSteve Fisher\tUSA
\n6\tAntti Autti\tFIN
\n7\tElijah Teter\tUSA
\n8\tLouie Vito\tUSA
\n9\tMarkus Malin\tFIN
\n10\tJustin Lamoureux\tCAN
\n11\tMatt Ladley\tUSA
\n12\tStale Sandbech\tNOR
\n13\tZack Black\tUSA
\n14\tKevin Pearce\tUSA
\n15\tScotty Lago\tUSA
\n16\tJeremy Thompson\tUSA<\/p>\n

WOMEN’S HP FINALS<\/strong>
\nRANK\tCOMPETITOR\tNATION
\n1\tTorah Bright\tAUS
\n2\tKelly Clark\tUSA
\n3\tEllery Hollingsworth\tUSA
\n4\tKjersti Oestgaard Buaas\tNOR
\n5\tGretchen Bleiler\tUSA
\n6\tElizabeth Beerman\tUSA
\n7\tKaitlyn Farrington\tUSA
\n8\tElena Hight\tUSA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay, so the big question from those of us who did not make the pilgrimage to Vermont for the US Open of Snowboarding was, “Where the hell is Shaun White?” But then, that’s how well we’ve been following along lately. Because if we’d been paying attention we would have know that he pulled out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6641"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6641"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6648,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6641\/revisions\/6648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}