KASS, BYRNES WIN SUPERPIPE

Danny Kass (Hamburg, NJ), a former Okemo Mountain School rider stomped a clean second run to win the superpipe competition at the Chevy Truck U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix at Okemo Mountain. U.S. Snowboard Team member Tricia Byrnes (New Canaan, CT) won her first Grand Prix and record her second victory in a row at this fabulous event. In On the podium local Ross Powers (S. Londonderry, VT), second to finished second with Sweden’s Magnus Sterner third (It will be broadcast by NBC Dec. 30 at 3 p.m. EST and by ESPN2 Jan. 17 at 1 p.m. EST for those of you who could not attend)

The ’01 Chevy Truck U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix season began at Okemo Shannon Dunn (Encinitas, CA) and Canadian Jasey Jay Anderson defended of their overall titles in the superpipe finals on Saturday, December 16th The Yahoo! Sports Big Air & Styleslopestyle with a giant slalom race was scheduled for Sunday but was postponed to Monday because of rain.

Kass started with a huge indy and then floated a method air before unloading a 720 stalefish. He then threw down a switch 900 indy to ice the victory.

In the women’s competition,. The U.S. Snowboard Team swept the podium with Byrnes 1st, Gretchen Bleiler (Snowmass Village, CO) was second and 16-year old Kelly Clark (Mt. Snow, VT) took third. Byrnes made a pair of classic runs, with her smooth style and super clean landings. She threw down some big airs and nailed her patented 540 stalefish.

Kass and Byrnes each picked up a $10,000 check, the second place riders received $5000 and third place took home $2500.

CHEVY TRUCK U.S. SNOWBOARD GRAND PRIX
Okemo Mountain, Vermont Dec. 16, 2000
Superpipe

MEN
1. Danny Kass (Hamburg, NJ), 43.20
2. Ross Powers (S. Londonderry, VT), 39.90
3. Magnus Sterner (Sweden), 38.30
4. Shaun White (San Diego, CA), 37.50
5. JJ Thomas (Golden, CO), 36.30
6. Rahm Klampert (Killington, VT), 36.10
7. Ricky Bower (Park City, UT), 35.40
8. Steven Fisher (Minneapolis, MN), 35.40
9. Xavier Hoffman (Germany), 34.90
9. Luke Wynen (Reading, PA), 34.90
11. Mark Reilly (Vernon, NJ), 32.70
12. Tommy Czeschin (Mammoth Lakes, CA), 32.30
13. Rob Kingwill (Jackson, WY), 31.50
14. Travis Rice (Jackson, WY), 31.10
15. Colin Langlois (Morrisville, VT), 30.20
16. Jerry Tucker (Ludlow, VT), 28.80
17. Adam Petraska (Andover, VT), 27.30
18. Charlie Morace (USA), 25.20
19. Seth Wescott (Farmington, ME), 24.30
20. Chris Engelsman (Sandy, UT), 22.50

WOMEN
1. Tricia Byrnes (New Canaan, CT), 39.40
2. Gretchen Bleiler (Snowmass Village, CO), 34.30
3. Kelly Clark (Mt. Snow, VT), 34.00
4. Michele Taggart (Truckee, CA), 32.10
5. Natasza Zurek (Canada), 31.30
6. Anna Olofsson (Sweden), 30.10
7. Amy Johnson (Rochester, NY), 26.90
8. Tara Zwink (Welches, OR), 24.90
9. Catherine Nieves (New City, NY), 22.80
10. Kim Stacey (Stratton Mt., VT), 17.40

THOMAS AND MACLEOD TAKE TOP HONORS IN THE YAHOO! BIG AIR & STYLE EXHIBITION

The Yahoo! Big Air & Style exhibition was held on Saturday, December 16th with lots of high-flying action. Competitors got the chance to ride in a slopestyle event for the first time on the Grand Prix tour since its inception in ’96.

The Bull Run trail at the base proved to be the perfect vantagepoint to watch the competition. The gentle beginner trail was filled with gap jumps, rails, a quarterpipe jump and a bus. Saturday’s exhibition event marked the first time that this discipline has been seen on the Grand Prix since the inception of the tour in ’96.

Allie oops, front flips, mctwists, backside rodeos, toe-side rails and any maneuver to land on their feet were among the moves that competitors used to wow the judges and the crowd.

Grand Prix coverage will be televised at 3 p.m. on December 30th on NBC and 1 p.m. EST on January 17th on ESPN2.

Results top 3 Men: Results top 3 Women:
1 JJ Thomas (CO) – 26.30 1 Jamie Macleod (NH) – 24.20
2 Rahm Klampert (CA) – 25.90 2 Catherine Nieves (CA) – 18.20
3 Kyle Clancy Florig (CA) – 24.10 3 Dresden Howell (UT) – 14.20

Overall Results
Women
1. Jamie Macleod
2. Catherine Nieves
3. Dresden Howell
4. Ali Bernstein
5. Natasza Zurek
6. Rashind Hussein
7. Amber Stackhouse
8. Amy Boch

Men
1. JJ Thomas
2. Rahm Klampert
3. Kyle Florig
4. Brent Meyer
5. Mulles Hallen
6. Tom Gilles
7. Jason Borgstede
8. Chris Englesman
9. Nick Franke
10. Zach Leach
11. Colin Langlois
12. Charlie Morace
13. Scotty Arnold
14. Zach Diamond
15. Eric Lienes
16. Brian Barb

KLUG, VAN ERT WIN SNOWBOARD GIANT SLALOM

After several lengthy delays, the giant slalom race at the Chevy Truck U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix finally got underway Monday on the Chief trail at Okemo Mountain Resort. Chris Klug (Aspen, CO) and U.S. Snowboard Team rider Sondra Van Ert (Ketchum, ID) took victories on the icy course.

The Okemo Grand Prix will be broadcast by NBC Dec. 30 at 3 p.m. EST.

The race was originally scheduled to go off Sunday, but heavy rain and wind, as well as thunder and lightening, forced organizers to shift the event until Monday. The winds were still blowing Monday morning and the first women’s racer didn’t get out of the start house until 11:30 a.m.

Klug won with a two-run time of 2:04.71. Canadians took the next two spots with Jasey Jay Anderson in second (2:05.52) and Mark Fawcett in third (2:05.70).

Klug led by over a full second after his first run. He played it safe on his second run and let up a bit to guarantee a clean finish and the $10,000 check.

“I had a really solid first run – I put it up on edge really early and aggressively ,” said Klug. “That second run I wussed it a little bit. I probably could’ve gone a little faster. But it’s hard when you’ve got a good cushion and you don’t want to botch it.”

During inspection prior to the second run, Klug judged the course, set by Scott Palmer from Stratton Mountain’s snowboard program, to be too straight down the fall line. He thought it was going to run too fast for the icy conditions. However, he changed his mind after racing it.

“After inspection, I thought ‘why’d he set it so straight?’,” said Klug. “And then I ran it and it ran beautifully. It was actually pretty turny, a little faster, but the gates didn’t seem to come at you too fast. I apologized to Scott, I said ‘Great set. I don’t know what I was
thinking’.”

It was the second podium in three days for Klug as he took third at a World Cup giant slalom Saturday at Mt. Ste. Anne, Quebec.

Van Ert, like Klug, was the Grand Prix alpine champion last season. She was in fourth place after the first run with a time of 1:10.67, but stormed back in her second pass to take the win with a combined time of 2:17.94. Canadians again rounded out the podium as Ivana Trudel was second in 2:18.00 and Alexa Loo took third with a time of 2:18.20. U.S.
Team rider Lisa Kosglow (Boise, ID) was the leader after the first run with a 1:08.77, but ended up finishing fourth with a two-run time of 2:19.20.

“The conditions were so icy out here,” said Van Ert. “This was definitely the hardest snow we’ve had all season. I think that the second run was a little more consistent. After the first run, I kind of knew what to expect and, even though I wasn’t feeling good, I had to
keep fighting.”

“It’s been kind of a slow start (to the season),” said Van Ert. “It just seems par for how I start. I always want to crank it up a little faster. This is a nice way to go home for Christmas.”

Van Ert was second Saturday at Mt. Ste. Anne and hauled in $10,000 for Monday’s win.

The Chevy Truck Grand Prix rolls into Breckenridge, Colo. Jan. 5-7. Superpipe and parallel slalom will be run, as well as a big air, part of the Yahoo! Sports Big Air & Style exhibition series.

CHEVY TRUCK U.S. SNOWBOARD GRAND PRIX
Okemo Mountain Resort – Ludlow, VT
Dec. 18, 2000
Giant Slalom

MEN
1. Chris Klug (Aspen, CO), 2:04.71
2. Jasey Jay Anderson (Canada), 2:05.52
3. Mark Fawcett (Canada), 2:05.70
4. Peter Thorndike (Meredith, NH), 2:05.99
5. Jeff Greenwood (Hartford, CT), 2:06.08
6. Ryan Wedding (Canada), 2:06.12
7. Anton Pogue (Hood River, OR), 2:06.32
8. Eric Warren (Bennington, VT), 2:06.37
9. Jerome Sylvestre (Canada), 2:06.51
10. Darren Chalmers (Canada), 2:07.63
11. Mike Kildevaeld (Denmark), 2:08.01
12. Jeff Archibald (Salt Lake City), 2:08.75
13. Mathieu Chiquet (France), 2:08.78
14. Ian Price (Manchester Center, VT), 2:09.85
15. Pete Macomber (Breckenridge, CO), 2:09.97
16. Ian Hadgkiss (Canada), 2:11.49
17. Matt Drinker (Northampton, MA), 2:12.74
18. A.J. Johnson (Canada), 2:13.63
19. Ryan McDonald (Entiat, WA), 2:13.75
20. Adam Smith (Bend, OR), 2:13.90

WOMEN
1. Sondra Van Ert (Ketchum, ID), 2:17.94
2. Ivana Trudel (Canada), 2:18.00
3. Alexa Loo (Canada), 2:18.20
4. Lisa Kosglow (Boise, ID), 2:19.20
5. Stacia Hookom (Edwards, CO), 2:19.56
6. Rosey Fletcher (Girdwood, AK), 2:20.29
7. Melissa Barclay (Canada), 2:20.38
8. Michelle Charles (Canada), 2:21.48
9. Lynn Ott (Bend, OR), 2:21.91
10. Lindsey Jacobellis (Bondville, VT), 2:28.37
11. Helene Cloutier (Canada), 2:30.40
12. Nicole Prefontaine (Plymouth, NH), 2:30.86
13. Jenn Macdonald (Madison, NH), 2:33.80
14. Jenny Harrop (Canada), 2:34.63
15. Erica Mueller (Chester, VT), 2:35.87

Ian Fehler
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