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NEWS:
East coaster Sara Pehrson, has been coming on strong this season with some solid placing in various contest and this Grand Prix was no exception. Pehrson took fourth with a smooth run, pulling an amazing five at the bottom of the pipe where everyone else seemed to be really slowing down. The top four women automatically advanced.
The second round in the qualifiers brought four more women into the top eight spots. Cara-Beth Burnside had a much better second run because she decided to be less technical and look more for amplitude. Just behind her Michele Taggart had a clean second run after having a bit of a sketchy run for Michele's standards in the first round. She was obviously pleased to be seeing the finals as she has been competing hard in the last two years and usually sees a top spot in most every halfpipe contest she enters.
After a bit of halfpipe performance anxiety over the last two years, Tina Basich seems to be riding stronger than ever before. Her repertoire of tricks is solid and she her years of experience are finally showing. Griselda Gonzalez surprisingly made the finals after a little sketch where she landed flat bottom, straightened out and then got enough speed to huck herself into a spin that put her in the finals as the eighth qualifier.
In the men's division the competition seemed especially fierce and competitors that have been on and off the contest road came out of the woodwork for this one. The first round gave the top eight automatic advancement into the finals. Canadian Michael Michaelchuck showed up to claim the eighth place spot with his typical conservative, but solid qualifying run. Apparently in practice Michaelchuck threw a double backflip in the pipe, but chose to stick to a more solid bag of Michaelchuck hucks for his run.
Jerry Tucker Jr. came out of nowhere to get a seventh place spot. Rob Kingwill was riding solidly as usual and sat himself in sixth place. East coasters have been coming out of the woodwork for the Grand Prix's. Last weeks X games top qualifier Jamil Khan definitely had some amazing amplitude and took fifth place. Ron Chiodi, the last Grand Prix winner, took fourth place and right behind him Chris Engelsman had a solid run taking third.
The run of the day was definitely by Ross Powers who has been ruling the halfpipe this season and may be a serious contender for a medal in Nagano. Powers had some solid straight airs with amazing amplitude, pulled excellent inverted tricks, and more or less walked away with the top spot getting a 41.9 from the judges. Todd Richards followed closely behind Powers and got second with a smooth run, but didn't seem to find as many hits as Powers.
The next round of qualifiers found spots for eight more men in the finals. Greg Goulet pulled one of the most amazing Haakonflip in his run and put himself in the finals. Other standout runs were by Jeff Anderson from Mammoth who seems to be riding better than ever and Jim Moran of Tahoe also came out of nowhere.
Stay tunes for the finals in both GS and halfpipe later today.
U.S. GRAND PRIX NAVIGATION:
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