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NEWS:
For the record, it was definitely a tough call between Jason Borgstede, Ryan Williams, and Kevin Jones, who were all on it throughout the qualifiers and finals. However, Jason had two clean jumps that offered height, a tail grab, and strong landings. That's what it takes to win big air.
The contest kicked off in the afternoon with Matthew Peterson of Breckenridge dropping the jump in a lovely tan leisure suit. Apparently he busted so big that he tore a hole in the seat of the suit, but that didn't stop him from making it to the finals.
BJ Leines offered up a nice medley of catalogue Peter Line inspired airs. He pulled a hefty backside rodeo and a misty flip, but wasn't really finding the landings too well. This seemed to be characteristic of the elder Leines this weekend.
Peter Line seemed frusturated with his performance, but still pleased the crowd by grabbing solidly on his switch rodeo, then later pulled a switch 720 with a double grab. It looked smooth from the top, but he must not have been landing much, otherwise he might have put a little more fear into Borgstede and Williams who were winning in the amplitude category.
Mike Beallo, the double backflip master, is back and running strong after a tough year of injuries last season. The jump must not have been to favorable for the Tahoe rider, because he ended up spinning instead of pulling his trademark flips. Unfortunately his spins weren't enough to get him into the finals.
"The Take off is great, but it doesn't equal the landing," Beallo commented before the competition started. "There's a huge take off and a small landing and that doesn't compliment each other."
It didn't seem to bother Erik Leines, who was in there for a minute with an impressive switch 900, but never really seemed to get that second high score that he needed to earn a medal. Andy Hetzel made it to the finals with his big mountain-style front flip, which he landed fakie. The only problem with this trick is that it didn't seem spectacular enough to win the audience over and over again. Blaise Rosenthal seemed to be stomping everything perfectly in the qualifiers. He landed a nice switch 900, but never quite matched his practice runs.
Kevin Jones, the silver medalist from the slopestyle on Thursday, was offering up some amazing frontside 900s, butcouldn't catch up to Borgstede's switch 900 with a tailgrab. Ryan Williams was right in there with Borgstede the whole time and it showed on the guys face. Every jump he landed with a huge smile and a triumphant fist in the air. It must have been his backside seven with the indy grab that bumped him up ahead of the Kev-dog.
The contest ended just in time, as the sun set behind the mountains and nature prevailed, pulling the plug on the X Games. Overall competitors seemed fairly pleased with the competitions this weekend and of course the crowd was pleased to see it end with the big scare, like we said, always a crowd pleasure for the thrill and gore of it.
OTHER NEWS HALFPIPE: Powers Slides Away With Cash And Car Tue. (Jan. 20 @ 3:21:AM est) BIG AIR: April Lawyer Injured Tue. (Jan. 20 @ 2:19:AM est) HALFPIPE: Burnside Is Back And Better Than Ever Mon. (Jan. 19 @ 10:29:PM est) BX: Dixon Takes Women's Boarder X Sun. (Jan. 18 @ 2:33:PM est) BX: Palm Takes Boarder X Again Sat. (Jan. 17 @ 10:39:AM est) THE X FILES--Special ESPN Edition of the Snowblower. Fri. (Jan. 16 @ 5:15:PM est) SLOPESTYLE: Powers And Waara Mine Gold Fri. (Jan. 16 @ 5:13:PM est) What's Happening? Thu. (Jan. 15 @ 10:24:AM est) What's Extreme Anyway? Thu. (Jan. 15 @ 10:22:AM est)
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