NZsnowboard.com

12th August 2007

AUSTRALASIAN SUCCESS AT BURTON NZ OPEN

LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand (June 29, 2007) The Burton Global Open Series announces Mitch Brown (NZE) and Torah Bright (AUS) as mens and womens halfpipe champions in the fifth annual Burton NZ Open at Snow Park NZ today.


The view from the top of the pipe at the Burton NZ Open

Brown is the first New Zealander to take out the prestigious halfpipe title in the history of the competition. He was the highest scoring rider in the semi-finals when his combination of tricks, from top to bottom, the most technical run of the semis. Going into the finals, his first run was not up to his previous standard putting him in seventh place. In his second run, the weather set in with wind and poor visibility but when others were giving up, he kept going, moving up into third. Saving the best until last it was his final run that put him into first place. Featuring a frontside 900, followed by backside 540, frontside 1080, Haakon flip, frontside air backside 900 to an Allyoop inverted 540, the run scored him 93.25, putting him clearly ahead of second place winner, Scotty Lago (USA) with 88.0.



Lago had the highest amplitude of the day, getting monster height out of the pipe but his run was not as technical as Browns although he did take out best mens trick. Ryo Aono (JPN), current leader on the FIS World Cup halfpipe circuit took out third with another huge and technical run.

Mitch was on fire, right from training in the morning, said Steen Webster, assistant head judge. His qualifying runs were a bit of an eye-opener for the rest of the field. Its great to see Kiwi success at this competition.



Torah Bright was in top form to take not only the womens halfpipe title but also best trick with a switch backside 540 which was the last hit of her winning run. The run featured a backside five, air to fakie, cab720, frontside 540, backside 360 finishing with the switch backside 540. The entire run was extremely well executed with every hit featuring a grab.

Last years winner, Kelly Clark, got second despite getting the highest amplitude in the girls field but Brights technical aspect stepped above Clarks amplitude. Manuela Pesko (SUI) took out third with a good spin combination of threes, fives and sevens and is the current leader of the FIS Halfpipe World Cup Tour.


Stef Zeestraten aka Dutchy boosting on his first hit

Event organiser, Reuben Yeoman said the event showed New Zealand snowboarding was now a definite force to be reckoned with on the world stage.

This years open was a huge success, especially considering the weather conditions thrown at us, he said. One thing that really came through is New Zealand riders are matching it on a world level. Its not just the big names such as Mitch Brown and Juliane Bray but theres a real depth of talent that showed itself during the Burton Open.

The 2007 Burton NZ Open finished with a twilight invitational quarterpipe jam with riders letting loose on Snow Park NZs massive quarterpipe


Photo Credit: Miles Holden


A full set of results are available at www.boarderzone.com/nzopen. For more information on the Burton New Zealand Open head to www.opensnowboarding.com


Media contacts:
Victoria Murray-Orr EveNZ
T: +64 3 443 2700
E: vmo@evenz.co.nz

About the Burton Global Open Series
The Burton Global Open Series events are the pinnacle snowboarding events of the season. Founded by Jake Burton, the Opens have grown from grassroots events to global spectacles attracting tens of thousands of spectators and riders from around the world. Since the beginning, the Opens have been driven by riders, for riders evolving with snowboarding and riders needs over the years. With events held in Canada, Europe, Japan, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, the Opens set the standard for snowboarding events around the globe. For more information, visit www.opensnowboarding.com

The Burton Global Open Series is part of the Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour, the largest group of independent freestyle snowboard events in the world. TTR ranks riders based on their results at participating competitions and crowns a TTR World Champion at the US Open. For more information, visit www.ttrworldtour.com