I'm going to re-rock one of the fine Rick Shimpeno photos in today's post in return for stealing his in house recap of the Pipe and Slope events. Results show top three finishers and all SMS student athletes...cleanly done.
Rick Shimpeno’s Rev Tour Breakdown
Men’s Half Pipe 1/15/09
1. Matt Ladley
2. Zach Black
3. Broc Warring
13. James Haffner
14. Micheal Pearle
18. Joe Mensch
36. Hunter Wood
40. Randall Stacy
42. Chris Tierney
70. Thomas Tikos-Kadji
84. Kevin Mattice
Men’s Halfpipe was heated. The US Rookie Team showed up and their plan was to take all the top spots. James Haffner rode strong with a frontside 900, a back side 540, back to back 720’s and an air to fakie. James missed the finals by one spot. Micheal Perle, Joe Mensch, Hunter Wood, Randall Stacy, Chris Tierney, TTK, and Kevin Mattice put together some of the best riding I have seen out of them this season and finished respectively.
Women’s Half Pipe 1/15/09
1. Elizabeth Beerman
2. Kaitlynn Farrington
3. Rebecca Sinclair
8. Jennifer Cohen
12. Shelby Simpson
36. Sadie Simpson
Womens Halfpipe again was stacked with talent. Lizzy Beerman unleashed the frontside 900 and took home the top spot. Rookie Teammate Kaitlynn Farrington dropped in switch to a cab 720 for 2nd place. Jennifer Cohen put together some large straight airs and some tech tricks lower in the pipe for a respectable 8th place finislh. Jenn missed the cut to finals by 2 places. Shelby Simpson put together some fine runs and landed in 12th. Sadie is working hard and we look forward to great things in the near future.
Men’s Slope Style 1/16/09
1. Brett Esser
2. Broc Warring
3. JD Dennis
4. James Haffner
7. Eric Beauchemin
15. Randall Stacy
30. Hunter Wood
38. Joe Mensch
46. Kevin Mattice
48. Thomas Tikos-Kadji
89. Chris Tierney
Mens Slope Style was also STACKED with talent. 114 men’s riders dropped into the Copper mountain Park looking for solid runs. James Haffner held it down for the SMS crew with a Cab 540 (underflip), frontside 720, a Backside 900, and some smooth and difficult rail tricks. Eric Beauchemin threw down a run with a frontside 720, Backside rodeo 540, and a Cab 900. Eric was as tech as you can get on the rails and landed in 7th. Randall Stacy’s first hit back flip was a favorite of the judges. His next two jumps were a frontside 360 and a backside 720. Randall’s time on the rails also helped him into 15th place. The rest of the SMS boys rode well in spots and held their own against the 114 slope riders.
Women’s Slope Style 1/16/09
1. Lizzy Beerman
2. Molly Wilson
3. Lynn Neil
15. Jennifer Cohen
25. Emily Pannkuk
Lizzy Beerman rounded out a great Revolution Tour stop at Copper with a victory in the slope style. Liz needed a smooth frontside 360, a back side 360, a huge tail grab, and smooth rail tricks to best the 42 women competitors. Jenn Cohen rode the park smooth and solid for a 15th place finish. Emily needed a bit more to crack the top 20. She threw what she knew and ended up in 25th. Emily is going to add some new tricks to the next contest and we are looking forward to it!
Nice eh? Noticably missing from those results is my man Mike Perle. Mike had a tough day and broke his wrist in the second run of slope. It was an underspun frontside three. A trick that is normally on lock-down gave him trouble all morning. And it still is. I know he is dissapointed in his results and his plight but sitting and watching will bring him back hungrier than ever if I know Mike.
The Boardercross event was equal to the high caliber standard set in the slope and pipe events. Both in event organisation and rider talent. After the 80 man field was filled by registered riders from every country another twenty eight international team quota spots were
used
. 108 fast boardercross riders raised the normally high caliber of the Rev Tour to a new level. It is a pre-olympic year and tomorrow begins a two day Nor-Am Cup bx stop on the same course. So riders around the world are beginning to scramble for FIS points and world cup starts to make themselves eligible for the Olympic field, that journey goes through Copper.
In the time trials Indrik Trahan missed the cut by just .88 seconds. He was 43rd and recieved 3.5 FIS points. Alexander Hernandez was just under two seconds out and Justin Mattice was just over two out. They were 55th and 61st respectively.
In the womens field the level was just as high and riders were from all over the world. For the past three years our good friend Jaqueline Hernandez has been repping SMS Snowboarding on podiums all over from southern Vermont to California. She and her brother Alexander are going to Junior Worlds for GS this year and she is putting in her bid for a BX spot as well. Qualifying fifth out of forty something into the Heats comprised of the top 16. Jackie fought hard and rode smoothley over the highly technical terrain. She cruised through the qualifying round into the semi final. In the semis she passed to go from 4th to third after a hard start. She caught up to the second place rider and was going for the pass when the other girl checked or twitched and took them both out. Jackie sprained her hand in the hard fall and was not allowed to ride in the consolation final to advance past 8th place. Disappointment and pain work together far too well and yet Jackie still tried hard to get into that consolation final. maybe 50% of the boardercrossers I've seen are so angry at elimination that they only grudgingly line up for consies at their coaches' urging. With J I had to ask her to please leave the start with me and get ready for the Nor-ams. She wanted in bad. By the bottom she is smiling and by the time we are riding to the clinic for an exray she is joking about her broken pants. Jackie is resting today. Tomorrow she will race again. I couldn't respect her more.
