philfell Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 So I thought I'd give a Lake Placid world cup update. It was such a great event this year. Super big thanks to Visa for taking over the title sponsorship and putting on an event that was worthy to be called a world cup. SBX Lindsay J. and Nick Baumgartner (sp), dominated the SBX, no one in their heats was even close to them. Graham, currently the top US guy in world cup points was 5th. Graham was riding super well and had a great shot a winning the event, but was taken down by hardboot rider Zidek in the simi-finals. Zidek has one of the best starts in SBX, but cant always absorb the abrubt features that they have coming out of the start, so I can be a bit troublesome if you are slightly behind him at times. The next day they put on a team SBX race as a test event. One rider from each team (4 at a time) goes down when he/she gets to the bottom their partners gate opens at the top and they take their run. USA Team 1 consisted of Graham and Holland!!!!! These two guys have so many accomplishments that I can't even begin to list here. And USA Team 2 had Baum and Cheever, Baum won the world cup the day before and Cheever was top 16 in the last two events. In the first two rounds Graham dominated having such a big lead crossing the finish line that Holland was able to get through the first few features of the course and into the first turn before the second place guys gate opened! When you give a 3x X-games gold winner this much of a head start it is pretty much a victory lap. In the finals Graham got through off balance trying to pass the world cup leader from NOR and went down hard not being able to finish his run so USA Team 1 finished in 4th. USA Team 2, fought their way to 5th place dispite Cheever forgetting his socks at home and having to race in cotton ankle socks......He was also in jeans and a leather jacket. On the ladies side Lindsay and Callen was USA Team 1, their main competition for the day would be Canada team 2. With their team riders finishing 2/3 behind Lindsay the day before. And sure enough it came down to those two teams battling in the finals. Lindsay finished her run just ahead of Dom from Canada which gave Callen just enough of a lead to hold off Maielle. Honestly if I had money down at the start fo the second riders, I would have bet my life on Callen getting passed, Maielle is a World Cup verteran with many wins on the tour and Callen is still young and coming up. But I would have lost it all because Callen had the run of her life and gave the Canadian no room to pass, giving USA 1 the win. Now to the PGS. The day started off a little on the down side pouring rain and a long delay because Kildy broke the start gate during his forerun. Yes that Kildy. By the way it was great to have Kildy and Anton around watching it made for some classic stories and good times. After things got rolling the weather cleared and became sunny and warm and the event went off very smoothly. Since the US was the host nation we were aloted 6 additional quota spots per gender which gave some riders a chance that would normally not be able to compete in the World Cup. Andi Jo Stump (Park City Snowboard Team) was one of the ladies that used this oppertunity to make a statement. After the first run she was one of 3 US ladies that qualified top 16 in their course and made the cut for second run. In the second run she was on pace to make it to the finals when she got a little front footed in the bumps on the pitch and spun out. She was able to take the next gate switch, do a front side 180 and continue on. She still ended up 25th (moving up 20 spots from her start position of 45) and was only 1.8 seconds out of the top 16 with that big of a mistake. There was a lot to talk about on the guys side of things. Vic Wild a newcomer for the US on the world cup scene was hungry to prove he deserved to be there. He finished 18th in Japan only .03 away from the top 16. Today he wanted it in a big way. He finished 7th in his course after first run, but made a couple mistakes on the pitch in his second run that dropped him to 22nd, his riding is good enough to run with the big guys it is only a matter of time, keep you eye out for him in the furture. The US had three guys in the top 16, Adam Smith, Tyler, and Justin R. It has been a while since we have had that many in the finals. Which makes me put more stock in my theroy of it being harder to race overseas no matter how many times you travel there. Put us on our home turf and we can run with them. Justin and Adam rode well, but could not get out of the first round, which left our hope on Tyler and man did he not dissapoint! Tyler took down Demsar, Anderson (yes that Anderson), Kosir to get him to the big finals against World Cup leader Bozzetto. Tyler made a few mistakes in the first run and dispite have a super solid second run he could not take down Bozzetto (which was his 4th world cup win of the year). This gave Tyler his second world cup podium this year. Remember the talk about having no US A Team for Alpine Snowboard, that will change next season as Tyler has met the criteria for it, congrats to him. I have a ton of video of the PGS some time soon I will have the time to go through it and post it. Good stuff, Jasey vs. Morrisen, Tylers runs, ect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philfell Posted March 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 Oh by the way earlier this year there was some talk about top world cup guys riding with flat rear feet and lifted front foot toes. I didn't see on guy with this set-up. I did spot on French lady who was riding like this. I made it a point to look at the set-up of the guys mentioned in an earlier thread and none of them were riding that way. Most of the people had flat front foot and heel lift in the rear (little to no cant), next most popular seemed to be heel lift rear foot and toe lift front foot, after that there were a few that rode flat, but not many. Kessler's with F2 bindings still dominate. After getting frustrated with a broken bail in training Jasey opted to switch off of F2 bindings and onto Catek's for the race. There are a few different plate offerings that the riders seem to be on, not just hangles anymore. They all seem to do a good job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hollywood 90210 Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 Thanks for the update. If I had some extra vacation days (it seems I keep using to many days in August down in Chile) I would have gone and watched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surf Rat Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 killer review!! thank you ...would love to see some of that video:lurk: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gleb Posted March 10, 2008 Report Share Posted March 10, 2008 just watched it off my DVR. Killer course BX course. You gotta have balls for those jumps. The PGS was pretty crazy. I'm happy for Tyler. Its a shame that Klug didn't make it that far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willywhit Posted March 10, 2008 Report Share Posted March 10, 2008 just watched it off my DVR. Killer course BX course. You gotta have balls for those jumps. The PGS was pretty crazy. I'm happy for Tyler. Its a shame that Klug didn't make it that far. let's see that PGS video I'd like to check that out on DVR glebster. all I could find was some Nate after the race <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfZFLSPDFBI"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfZFLSPDFBI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> and Nate getting a silver last year <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fIIrauS-e8"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fIIrauS-e8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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