PR: World Pro Snowboard Tour Finale at Mount Snow March 27-29
(March 23, 1998)

Mount Snow, Vermont (March 23, 1998) -- The new World Pro Snowboard Tour will conclude its 1998 season at Mount Snow, March 27-29. The East Coast finale will mark the tour's seventh scheduled stop of the season and will feature top pro riders from all over the country competing in Halfpipe and DoubleCross competitions.

Slated to ride at Mount Snow are local favorites Jason Evans and Erich Rehbein, who traveled to Korea for the launch of the World Pro Snowboard Tour (WPSBT) in January. Evans has placed consistently high in the Halfpipe with the WPSBT, and has given some great runs in the DoubleCross, including a second place win in Korea. Both Evans and Rehbein are members of the Mount Snow Ride On! Snowboard Team - also competing from the Mount Snow team will be Tristan Herbert, Jae Helenek and Elia Hamilton.

The weekend also includes a variety of apres ride parties Friday through Sunday at various locations throughout the Mount Snow Valley.

Coming off of an impressive DoubleCross victory at Boyne Mountain, Michigan, rider Anton Pogue is within striking distance of current WPSBT overall series leader Luke Wynen as the two look to battle at Mount Snow. Wynen, who has consistently placed in both the Halfpipe and DoubleCross competitions all season, regained the overall lead with his performance at Boyne Mountain. Wynen recorded 6th and 9th place finishes in the Halfpipe and DoubleCross competitions, respectively, to reclaim top billing with 71 points. Pogue has 60 points on the strength of two WPSBT DoubleCross victories this season.

"The showdown between Wynen and Pogue for the overall title will certainly add to the drama of our season finale at Mount Snow," said Tour Director Sandy Biestek. "Our goal was to provide exciting Halfpipe and DoubleCross competition all season and these two riders have delivered throughout.”

The WPSBT is all about 'airtime' in two featured competitions, the Smirnoff Citrus Twist Halfpipe (finals on Saturday, March 28) and the trademark DoubleCross (Sunday, March 29). Beyond the thrill of just riding, top pros will be vying for $30,000 in cash prizes over the weekend and series points accumulated by WPSBT members in the battle for the overall title.

In the Smirnoff Citrus Twist Halfpipe, riders launch themselves down an Olympic-sized pipe turning radical tricks and catching big air. Featuring a dual elimination format, riders are out to take home the first place purse of $10,000. Qualifiers for the halfpipe are on Friday, March 27 and the finals are on Saturday, March 28 at 10 am.

The tour's trademark DoubleCross is a brand new, outrageous mix of Giant Slalom and Boardercross. Riders will go head-to-head down a course of gates, banks, jumps and two crossovers. In this race, contact is allowed between the two riders, as long as there is no obvious attempt to physically thwart the opponent. After negotiating course obstacles, the riders race to the finish corral where one final table top jump will give them a big air finish through the electronic timing beam. Each competitor, starting in the final round of 32, will race two times against the same opponent with the winner of the 'time differential' advancing to the next round. By the end of the day, the winner will have been on course an exhausting 12 times including qualifying runs, but will also ride away with a $10,000 cash prize.

In its first year, the seven-event WPSBT featured FOX SportsNet coverage to 55 million homes and more than $200,000 in cash and prizes. Corporate sponsors include Smirnoff Citrus Twist, Calvin Klein Cosmetics, MasterCard, Hardcore Extreme Sports Equipment Company, KUU Snowboards, Hotfingers and Mountain Lift Energy Bars.