Previously at the 99 X Games:
Day 2: Women's Halfpipe
Day 1: The Greatest Circus on Snow

With a clear lead, Palmer once again took the X Games BoarderX, much to the disappointment of all of his friends and foes who came to Crested Butte to take the gold from him. It was a tight match in a final with Shaun Palmer, Ross Powers, Drew Neilson, Seth Wescott, Scott Gaffney and Dave Dowd (yes, Dave Dowd).

A mellower, less Cocky Palmer? Yep.

The finals basically went down like this: Palmer took the hole shot. Scott Gaffney and Drew Neilson followed in close behind him the whole way down. Seth Wescott got pushed out at the top of the course and ended up last. In front of Wescott was Dave Dowd, then Ross Powers, the multi-snowboard athlete of the weekend who will also be riding in the slopestyle and halfpipe. Then Drew Neilson followed in close behind Scott Gaffney until he was able to pass Gaffney in the whoops. Neilson tried to make a charge for Palmer in the final run out, but Palm took the gold without much of a fight.

"I am happy to win," said Palmer with a little mellower tone in his voice than past years. "I am not going to get as cocky as last year, I am just going to roll mellow with this win and they will all have to wait another whole year to take this from me. This race won't be my last one. That's for sure. Triple gold, undefeated for three years. I just wish I would have got that skier cross too, but it was just bad luck at the start of the event. I'll get it next year."

The surprise of the day was definitely Dave Dowd, the 35-year-old snowboarder from Boulder, Colorado whose name can be remembered by those who were around in the beginning of snowboarding. Another big surprise was the fact that Terje got knocked out in the semi-finals after a last place start out of the gate and ended up in the consolation round.

One of the most impressive racers of the day was 22-year-old Scott Gaffney from Calgary, Alberta. He took first in every one of his heats and by a long shot in most of them.

"Scott is an amazing rider," said fellow Canadian and silver medallist in the boardercross Drew Neilson. "He is a great halfpipe rider, one to watch for sure. Palmer just had a good start and took it in the beginning. I was really lucky to get past Scott. I didn't think I was going to be able to and I was like, looks like I am going to finish third. It all worked out though."

The consolation round was one of the most exciting runs of the day short of the finals with Canadian Ben Wainwright in first, Chris Engelsman in second, Terje pulling a 360 into third, Jason Troth in fourth, Andy Hetzel and then Jason Brown following up the rear. It was undoubtedly disappointing for both Brown and Hetzel who have been competing hard against Palmer in the Swatch Boardercross Tour and the X Games the last few years.

In the women's division there was a photo finish with Leslee Olson and Maelle Ricker charging hard for the gold. Ricker taking the step-up, while Olson cruised around the alternate route, using her racing skills to charge the final line, but Ricker still crossed over the final line. Canadian rider Candice Drouin came in just behind the two top finishers. Following the leaders were Jessica Delpiaz, Kim Bohnsack, and Sara Osternberg.

Tomorrow the X Games will continue with slopestyle finals and halfpipe practice. And Sunday the halfpipe finals and big air finals will finish off the X Games.