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Monster Energy’s Louie Vito Wins The U.S. Snowboar...Vito, the defending U.S. GP halfpipe champ, makes a HUGE statement with the win – his first ever at the opening round; Monster’s Andy Finch is 6th o/a Photos courtesy of www.louievito.com CORONA, Calif., (Dec. 15, 2008) – Monster Energy snowboarder Louie Vito opened the 2008-’09 U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, presented by Sprint, season on a super high note this past weekend at Copper Mountain, Colo., winning the overall men’s halfpipe contest and making a statement in terms of his overall U.S. Snowboarding halfpipe championship title defense.
Vito, a Utah native by way of the not-so snowboard Mecca of Belefontaine, Ohio, booted up and let ‘er snap at Copper – blasting back-to-back 1080s and 900s for the win, especially in his amplitude-packed second run.
“The last two years I haven’t made the finals at the first Grand Prix and that’s kind of been a bummer,” said Vito. “But it’s nice going into the rest of the season with the win and knowing you have that accomplishment. Hopefully the rest of the season follows in the right direction like this.”
Should just that happen for Vito he’ll no doubt earn himself a spot on the United States’ snowboard team for the upcoming 2010 Vancouver, B.C., Winter Olympics. The win for Vito at Copper marks the third in a row on the U.S. GP tour, dating back to the 2007-’08 competition season. In addition, Vito won the Jeep King of the Mountain stop at Squaw Valley (Calif.) and placed 2nd at the Vans Tahoe Cup at Northstar (Calif.).
“Once you get that first taste of a win, it’s hard to settle for anything less than that,” added Vito, who topped 2nd place Steve Fisher (defending X Games SuperPipe champ) by a score of 47.20 to 44.0. “With how many good riders there are in the first contest it’s nice to start my season that way.”
Monster Energy’s Andy Finch also had a pretty solid contest, finishing 6th overall with a 41.60 score.
Next up on the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix tour is Jan. 29 to Feb. 1 at Boreal Mountain Resort in Truckee, Calif. Also look for a bunch of the Monster Energy athletes at the AST Winter Dew Tour this weekend, Dec. 18-21, at Breckenridge, Colo.
Monster Energy supports the sport. Be it snowboarding, rally, insane distance jumping, MX, MotoGP, road racing, supermoto, off-road, FMX, skate, MTB, wake, mini bikes, surf, ski, 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. Louie Vito and Andy Finch dig ‘em – so will you. On the ‘Net at www.monsterarmy.com and www.monsterenergy.com
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