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PUCKETT WINS HONDA SKI TOUR SKI CROSS
CASEY PUCKETT OF THE U.S., CROWNED SKI CROSS CHAMPION OF THE HONDA
SKI TOUR, SUN VALLEY, ID, TAKING HOME $25,000
Stanley Hayer of the Czech Republic, Lars Lewen of Sweden and Daron Rahlves of the USA
battle Puckett in The Honda Ski Tour Ski Cross finals
Sun Valley, ID,
January 14, 2007—The second day of The Honda Ski Tour (THST) Sun Valley,
ID, began with perfect racing conditions yesterday with temperatures below zero
and clear, sunny skies. The top ski cross competitors in the world delivered both
entertainment and excitement for the thousands of spectators who braved the
cold to watch as these athletes take their crack at the $25,000 top prize.
THST is North America's new elite, four-stop mountain
festival and skiing competition that features the world's best halfpipe and ski
cross skiers competing for a total of $500,000, the biggest purse in skiing.
Ski cross competition involves four skiers racing
head-to-head through a motocross-style course featuring jumps, banked turns,
waves and modified terrain features. Friday's individual ski cross time trial
qualified the fastest 14 athletes who automatically advanced to yesterday's
elimination rounds.
The first two heats of the day were the Paul Mitchell Dark
Horse (PMDH) qualifier. Exclusive to THST, the PMDH qualifier allows eight
skiers, who qualified 15 to 22 to race head-to-head in two heats with the
winner of each heat advancing to the main event. Extreme sports phenom Shaun Palmer,
injured in training yesterday morning, was forced to forfeit his PMDH spot
which opened the door for Justin Glick of Aspen, CO. Ski Cross World Champion
Tomas Kraus nabbed the other PMDH position and the two had the honor of wearing
the PMDH black jerseys.
Kraus worked his way through to the consolation round, winning
it and finishing fifth overall. Zach Crist, Jake Fiala and Travis Svensrud, all
of the U.S.,
finished sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. All four took home $1,500 in
prize money.
The finals proved to be a battle royal with the sport's
biggest names going head-to-head for the glory of being crowned the first ever Honda
Ski Tour ski cross champion. First out of the gate, Casey Puckett of the U.S.
was chased down by recently retired U.S. Ski Team legend Daron Rahlves who was
knocked off his skis when the two collided near the top of the course. Meanwhile
Lars Lewen of Sweden
and Stanley Hayer of the Czech Republic/Canada jostled for positions two and
three. Puckett was chased down and nearly caught by Hayer just feet from the
finish line, but it was Puckett who claimed victory, and ultimately the check
for $25,000. Hayer walked away with $15,000, Lewen with $7,500 and Rahlves
added $5,000 to his bank account.
"This is just unbelievable. That final was so intense!" said
winner Casey Puckett. "I was fighting for the first corner with Lars and then I
think I had Daron on my back and then Stan was on my tail. It was not easy! Every
heat, from the quarter to the semi to the final, there was never a bye, it was
tough competition and I just feel lucky I was able to stay out in front."
All top eight Honda Ski Tour Sun Valley, ski cross finishers
say they'll be back for another try at the next Honda Ski Tour stop in Breckenridge, CO,
February 1-4.
"I'm really fired up, I really wasn't expecting to have such
a good day," said silver medalist Stanley Hayer. "I'm a World Cup guy so I have
a race in the Czech
Republic which I think is
going to be cancelled, so Breckenridge for sure and the World Championships
overlap with Squaw, but I would rather make these events. I think they're going
to get better every stop so I'm looking forward to it."
THST was founded by Kipp Nelson and Steve Brown, former University of Colorado alpine racers. Nelson, a
trustee of the U.S. Ski Team as well as the Sun Valley Ski Education
Foundation, is putting the fun back in to ski competition by combining two very
separate aspects of the sport, halfpipe and ski cross into one event.
"We had some great racing today," said co-founder Kipp
Nelson. "Casey Puckett said that this was the most exiting race he's ever been
in, and that was true. Four of the best athletes in the world rolled up their sleeves
and duked it out and it was very apparent from the moment those guys left the
starting gate that they all thought they could win. In the end it's all about
the final and the final was the most exciting race of the day. And the fact
that we got as many people as we did to show up in ten degrees below zero was
amazing for us."
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently approved
the addition of ski cross for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The U.S. Ski and
Snowboard Association (USSA), the national governing body for Olympic skiing,
is officially calendaring THST 2007 as a sanctioned USSA ski cross event.
Technical Delegate David Pym, who was assigned to the event
by the USSA explains, "We are all excited that this event will be a part of the
2010 Olympics, and just look at the crowd that's here today in Sun Valley, there's got to be five or six thousand people
here. The TV show is going to be absolutely spectacular so as an Olympic event
it's going to be fantastic, and we're really looking forward to it."
THST will be covered
in four hours of network television—one hour per event— scheduled to air on
ABC. Event and airing schedules are as follows:
Event date: February 1-4, Breckenridge, Colorado
ABC airdate/times: Saturday, February 10, 4pm PST / 5pm MST
/ 2pm EST
Event date: February 22-25, Aspen/Snowmass, Colorado
ABC airdate/times: Sunday, March 11, 11am PST / 12pm MST /
2pm EST
Event date: March 8-11, Squaw Valley USA, California
ABC airdate/times: Sunday, March 25, 11am PST / 12 pm MST /
2pm EST
For general
information and BaseCamp Music Experience ticket information, go to the Honda
Ski Tour website www.theskitour.com
The Honda Ski Tour
would like to extend a special thanks to its sponsors, American Honda Motor
Co., Paul Mitchell, Crocs, Spyder, Salomon, Ice Breaker, Atomic and media
partner Outside Magazine.
For more information
and downloadable high-resolution images of Honda vehicles, please visit www.hondanews.com.
Consumer information is available at www.honda.com
For media queries
please contact;
The Honda Ski Tour
Director of PR & Communications
Keith Carlsen
801-349-4632
keith@mtsports.com