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02/18/2008 - U.S. Snowboarding's Louie Vito (Columbus, OH/Sandy, UT) picked up a major victory Saturday winning the Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix superpipe at an overcast Tamarack Resort. Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT), 2002 Olympic gold medalist, won the women's competition.
The Grand Prix at Tamarack will be broadcast Feb. 16 on NBC at 3:30 p.m. ET. Louie Vito soars out of the Tamarack superpipe to take his first Chevy Grand Prix win.
Vito, 19, pumped up the crowd-lined halfpipe by throwing down a frontside 720, back 1080, frontside 900, backside 540, shredder for his winning run. Second place went to Greg Bretz (Mammoth Lakes, CA) with Elijah Teter (South Lake Tahoe, CA), who also finished third at the Breckenridge Grand Prix, in third. It was Vito's first Grand Prix win.
"It felt pretty good to win. I needed a little bit of a confidence booster after not doing so well at the X Games," Vito said. "I'm just going to keep doing my thing now. I've got a few things between now and the Killington Grand Prix, so I'll worry about those and when Killington gets closer, I'll worry about that."
Bretz worked his way to second with a frontside 9, backside 9, frontside 7, cab 7 and straight air.
"It felt pretty good today. I got nervous at the top, but it was great after the weather conditions we dealt with the other day," Bretz said.
"Any day that you have U.S. riders on the podium is a good day. We're super proud of everybody," U.S. Snowboarding Halfpipe Head Coach Mike Jankowski said. "Louie worked really hard for this one and we're proud of him. Of course, Greg Bretz, he's a youngster who's been riding with our crew a bit and he had a great run. Elijah did awesome from the get-go as well."
In the women's halfpipe, Clark rode with frontside air, backside 5, frontside 5, backside air, frontside 7 and a cab 3, to win.
"It was great. It was an amazing event. I'm glad the weather held off and we could have a good time in there," Clark said. "It's always good to do good in the first two Grand Prix events in the hopes of taking the overall title. When you have a good first run, in the end you get to do what you want to do in the second."
U.S. Snowboarding's Clair Bidez (Minturn, CO) followed Clark in second and Ellery Hollingsworth (Stratton, VT) was third.
"I was really proud of Clair and Ellery," Jankowski said. "These riders are working hard to do what they do. They're some of the greatest athletes in the world. Everybody's pushing the limits of the sport and going for it."
The Grand Prix wraps up competition Sunday in Tamarack, which has had 36 inches of new snow in the last week, with the Visa Snowboardcross competition, which is part of the Visa SBX Championship Series.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix
Tamarack, ID - Feb. 9, 2008
Halfpipe
Men (15 made finals)
1. Louie Vito, Columbus, OH/Sandy, UT, 260.00 points
2. Greg Bretz, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 208.00
3. Elijah Teter, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 156.00
4. Scotty Lago, Seabrook, NH, 130.00
5. Zac Black, Dillon, CO, 117.00
6. Ben Watts, Bend, OR, 104.00
7. Brennen Swanson, Stillwater, MN, 93.60
8. Trevor Jacob, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 83.20
9. Spencer Shaw, Litchfield, CT, 75.40
10. Jake Black, Dillon, CO, 67.60
11. Michael Goldschmidt, Truckee, CA, 62.40
12. Tyler Anderson, Chanhassen, MN, 57.20
13. Austin Noring, West Bend, WI, 52.00
14. Daniel Longo, Canada, 46.80
15. Bryan Shuey, Incline VIllage, NV, 41.60
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Women (8 made finals)
1. Kelly Clark, West Dover, VT, 260.00
2. Clair Bidez, Minturn, CO, 208.00
3. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 156.00
4. Brooke Shaw, Litchfield, CT, 130.00
5. Tricia Byrnes, Aspen, CO, 117.00
6. Kelly Marren, Hillsborough,CA , 104.00
7. MacKenzie Matters, Eagan, MN, 93.60
8. Kait Farrington, Bellevue, ID, 83.20
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