Monster Energy’s Burke, Wells, Hight & Bang All Ma...
Sarah Burke tops the Monster athletes with a win in Freeski women’s Superpipe; Jossi Wells (freeski) and Mikkel Bang (snowboard) both place 2nd in Slopestyle and Elena Hight is 3rd in women’s Snowboard Superpipe
CORONA, Calif., (Dec. 22, 2008) – Monster Energy-backed athletes racked up the hardware at this past weekend’s inaugural AST Winter Dew Tour event in Breckenridge, Colo., in a star-studded field rivaled only by the ESPN Winter X Games and Winter Olympic Games in terms of both global ski and snowboard talent.
Leading the Monster Army was the world’s best women’s vert rider, freeski sensation Sarah Burke. In fact, if you took the amplitude and height of Burke’s bionic airs on her first hit and judged it vs. the men, she’d have medaled in the men’s Superpipe contest as well!
“Saw so many Monster Army members hanging out and cheering all of us on – yeah!,” said Burke. “It made me feel like I had the home mountain advantage.”
While Burke blasted as big as the men, she also threw down with some plenty technical spin tricks – w/ grabs – that earned her 1st place, some ten points ahead of the next closest competitor.
Also born & bred to rip and shred on skis is Monster Energy’s Kiwi sensation, Jossi Wells. The fun-loving ‘New Zoolander’ had 1st place in men’s Freeski Slopestyle locked down – until local and relatively unknown (until now) Breck ripper Bobby Brown wowed everybody with a colossal final run in the weather-shortened event. Wells sparked his edges on the Slopestyle rails and boxes, throwing switch 630s into both switch 1080s and a switch 900 nose, then closed with a blind 630 out of the up rail. It would take a legendary effort to top him, and that’s what the 17-year-old Brown would put up.
“Yeah, he killed it,” said Wells of Brown’s run. “Just sets the stage for some more big finals this year on the Winter Dew Tour. I can’t wait now for Vermont (Jan. 8-11 at Mt. Snow).”
Buckling into the sledboards and ratcheting up the afternoon was Monster Energy’s Mikkel Bang – who closed out the ’08 competition calendar with another big podium finish. The Norway-born Bang qualified well in the Snowboard Slopestyle alongside fellow Scandinavian Andreas Wiig and top American Shaun White. Buttering the landing on a switch 720 to switch backside 900 – and then closing with a boosted frontside 10 – Bang took hold of the reins on the overall lead after the finals’ first run.
Bang had to drop in last on the second and final run of the Snowboard Slopestyle finals, and the 18-year-old was forced to play catch up following White’s tremendous second run. And Bang didn’t disappoint the rowdy Monster Army members hillside, stepping up and throwing a Cab 720 into a switch 9, then landed on of the loudest frontside 360s of the competition. End results: The judges felt Bang’s technical merits were behind that which scored him high in his first run. 1st place, White, 2nd place, Bang.
“I just enjoyed my last run,” said Bang on the podium. “I’m okay with 2nd place. I just wanted to have fun during my second run and I did.”
Back in the Superpipe, top Monster Energy-backed women’s vert rider Elena Hight made the podium with perennial American Superpipe lords, Gretchen Bleiler and Kelly Clark, while edging out other top women’s Superpipe rider Hannah Teter.
Hight was on it, combining a Hawaiian-shaped surf style with a blitzing Tahoe-honed aggro pipe attack that featured clean front and back 9s and enough style points to earn her a 82.0 scored and some 3rd place hardware! Nice going, Elena!
Other noteworthy performances from Monster Energy athletes at the inaugural Breckenridge Winter Dew Tour comp included: Peter Olenick: 4th place Freeski Men’s Superpipe; Louie Vito: 5th Snowboard Men’s Superpipe; Danny Kass: 8th Snowboard Men’s Superpipe; Torstein Horgmo: 7th Snowboard Men’s Slopestyle.
The AST Winter Dew Tour reconvenes at Vermont’s Mt. Snow in a few weeks, Jan. 8-11.
Monster Energy supports the sport. Be it mountain sports, rally, insane distance jumping, MX, MotoGP, road racing, supermoto, off-road, FMX, skate, MTB, wake, mini bikes, surf, snow, BMX – name it – the athletes are rockin’ Monster Energy more than anything these days. Check out all the types – Original Monster Energy, Monster Lo-Carb, Monster Assault, Monster Khaos, Monster’s fruit juice hybrid dubbed “M-80,” the party-friendly MIXXD, the ground-breaking Java Monster premium coffee & cream drink line supercharged with our Monster Energy blend, along with the new Monster Energy “Hitman” energy shot. Everyone at the inaugural AST Winter Dew Tour Breck round dug ‘em – so will you. On the ‘Net at www.monsterarmy.com and www.monsterenergy.com