Ian Price railing to victory. crane�photo |
Ian Price and Sondra Van Ert outlasted a long Super G and a competitive field to take first-place spots and $10,000 each at the Chevy S-10 U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain this weekend.
Price edged out an always tough racer Mark Fawcett and perennial favorite Jeff Greenwood to take the win. Price had a time 1:33.58, almost a half-second ahead of Fawcett�s 1:34.24, and exactly two seconds ahead of Greenwood�s 1:35.58.
"The begining everyone was having trouble with the first three gates I figured if I got through there I knew the rest of the course was going to be fun," Price said. "I made it through the top fine and then I just charged it."
Was he worried that he wouldn't be able to catch Fawcett? Sure. " You know Mark and I have won every Super G for the last four years except for one," Price said. "I knew I could keep up with him, I didn't know if I could beat him because he's such a good contender, but I knew if I concentrated really hard I could be in there with him."
One the women�s side, the veteran Van Ert posted a winning time of 1:42.77, putting her ahead of Lisa Kosglow, who had a time of 1:43.25, and Stacia Hookum, who scored a time of 1:45.30. Hookum was moved up into the spot after Canadian Ivana Trudel was found to have missed a gate and disqualified after posting a time of 1:45.13. The top-three competitors are all members of the U.S. Snowboard Team.
Sondra Van Ert. crane�photo |
"It was really tough this time because we haven�t done any Super G races yet," said Van Ert of her win on the heels of a long, travel day from Whistler, British Columbia where she had competed and got a fifth in a World Cup event on Friday. "I was really looking forward to one day of practice to see if I could even turn the board. I think more than the travel, which was easy travel, it was mentally brutal on me. The course was fast enough to scary me silly. The snow was really firm, but you could carve into it."
The Grand Prix races usually feature a GS (giant slalom) event, similar to what will be held in the Olympics, but organizers decided to throw in the Super G just to mix things up.
The Mammoth Grand Prix will be broadcast on NBC December 26th at 4:00 p.m. EST.
The Grand Prix makes its next stop at Breckenridge, Colorado on January 7 to 9 with giant slalom, halfpipe, and the Doritos Loud Air and Style Big Air events. Snowboarding-Online will be there to give you up-to-the-minute reports and results.
