Burton Halfpipe
cardrona / july 17
Stu knocked on the door - 'wake up Luke!' -''shit!, i'll be sorted in a sec mate , throw the jug and some music on', I jumped out of bed and literally dived in the shower, a few minutes later the riding gear was on, gloves and goggles in the bag and we were off with gear & boards hurled in the sts truck, a museili bar and destination: takeaway coffee then Cardrona & the Burton open in our sights. Before we knew it we were thru Queenstown & sailing over the Crown range; yakking away like champions. The Violator was on the case already filming what you are about to see, it was blue bird skies and the snow doesn't get much better!
We could see the crew up there already pushing thru the prelims , busting out of the pipe to score a slot in the finals, a good crowd had gathered at the sides and Dj Downtown Brown - coming direct from a big night at his club - Subculture - rocked into the tunes.
We had to throw some compulsory runs in to 'set our mood' so dropped over the side to sample the new quad and Captains basin- jibbing everything in sight - excellent!!!!! - right, now we're ready to go and watch New Zealand's best and invited pros from the States, Australia, Japan and Canada thanks to Burton and sponsors, rip the Cardy's Super pipe to pieces, film it and write this up so you know how it went down.
At the top tent it was all go - and great to see the riding family as it is giving the vocal support to each other as they dropped one by one into the pipe & flew car bodies over the heads of spectators twisted heads, it was a good scene! , the Quest BBQ cooking, everyone catching up with each other and hooting to the plays of Will Jackways sky high methods, AJ and Dyl Butt throwing the mad inverted style down as NZ pipe champs do, Markus Wehrle surfing to stale fish, Mitch Brown fresh from the world jnrs stepping up solidly to the plate as with Monkey [Jah Harris] like a rock till the end & Aussie Mikey Williams massive invert to photographer.
The crowd thickened at the pipe sides and bottom giving up the noise for what was evolving in front of them. It was Tom Willmott taking 3rd place treating us with size and clean runs right behind young USA pro and prodigy Mason Aguire [who also took out the one hitter comp]- fast, furious, upside down and cleaner than Madonna's glass coffee table. Canadian pro & seasonal wanaka local Crispin Lipscomp was the man on the day - I was blown away! crispy spun like a mad top 900s going for 1080's[ollie calling for it] & busting fatter than a sumo wrestler in custard pie eating comp, he laid one run down that was flawless - spins, late corked inverts, all the moves and the biggest of the day on every hit - good work Zen boy it was great to watch & well deserved!!!!!!! - $3000 cash in the pocket added to the smile!
In the women's Ju Bray seized 1st with the big airs and form that has seen her rock at the top of NZ women's pipe riding and pull the noise from the crowd! Abby Lockhart ripped in for 2nd over USA pro Molly Aguire - both girls had the moves down, good air, grabs and spins. Kendal Brown shined, working those legs to propel herself out of the pipe with great style ahead of charger Ellie Richards down from the north - Fiona Duncan, Yukiko, Nori, Natalie, Whitney etc - all the girls impressed.
With a great mix of riders - jnrs to seasoned pros; the pipe took a working, Deni had the mic in hand keeping us entertained, Guy, Sonny & the B crew along with the Judges, SFI crew and Cardrona staff turned on another great open! Blake helped out with the prize giving, the cash went out, photographers and tv crews stoked and everyone left with a great spectacle of riding burned into the brain. Well done!!!!!!
I scraped a quick last run in with the Russ the Riddler, then after goodbyes all round headed back to the truck . Stu was waiting, we threw the boards in and took on the crown range again with the heater turned up. the sun set as we pulled into QT - nice , tonight the after party is at Subculture QT - it will be crazy so i'll leave your imagination to set the picture & you'll probably be right.
// Luca
We could see the crew up there already pushing thru the prelims , busting out of the pipe to score a slot in the finals, a good crowd had gathered at the sides and Dj Downtown Brown - coming direct from a big night at his club - Subculture - rocked into the tunes.
We had to throw some compulsory runs in to 'set our mood' so dropped over the side to sample the new quad and Captains basin- jibbing everything in sight - excellent!!!!! - right, now we're ready to go and watch New Zealand's best and invited pros from the States, Australia, Japan and Canada thanks to Burton and sponsors, rip the Cardy's Super pipe to pieces, film it and write this up so you know how it went down.
At the top tent it was all go - and great to see the riding family as it is giving the vocal support to each other as they dropped one by one into the pipe & flew car bodies over the heads of spectators twisted heads, it was a good scene! , the Quest BBQ cooking, everyone catching up with each other and hooting to the plays of Will Jackways sky high methods, AJ and Dyl Butt throwing the mad inverted style down as NZ pipe champs do, Markus Wehrle surfing to stale fish, Mitch Brown fresh from the world jnrs stepping up solidly to the plate as with Monkey [Jah Harris] like a rock till the end & Aussie Mikey Williams massive invert to photographer.
The crowd thickened at the pipe sides and bottom giving up the noise for what was evolving in front of them. It was Tom Willmott taking 3rd place treating us with size and clean runs right behind young USA pro and prodigy Mason Aguire [who also took out the one hitter comp]- fast, furious, upside down and cleaner than Madonna's glass coffee table. Canadian pro & seasonal wanaka local Crispin Lipscomp was the man on the day - I was blown away! crispy spun like a mad top 900s going for 1080's[ollie calling for it] & busting fatter than a sumo wrestler in custard pie eating comp, he laid one run down that was flawless - spins, late corked inverts, all the moves and the biggest of the day on every hit - good work Zen boy it was great to watch & well deserved!!!!!!! - $3000 cash in the pocket added to the smile!
In the women's Ju Bray seized 1st with the big airs and form that has seen her rock at the top of NZ women's pipe riding and pull the noise from the crowd! Abby Lockhart ripped in for 2nd over USA pro Molly Aguire - both girls had the moves down, good air, grabs and spins. Kendal Brown shined, working those legs to propel herself out of the pipe with great style ahead of charger Ellie Richards down from the north - Fiona Duncan, Yukiko, Nori, Natalie, Whitney etc - all the girls impressed.
With a great mix of riders - jnrs to seasoned pros; the pipe took a working, Deni had the mic in hand keeping us entertained, Guy, Sonny & the B crew along with the Judges, SFI crew and Cardrona staff turned on another great open! Blake helped out with the prize giving, the cash went out, photographers and tv crews stoked and everyone left with a great spectacle of riding burned into the brain. Well done!!!!!!
I scraped a quick last run in with the Russ the Riddler, then after goodbyes all round headed back to the truck . Stu was waiting, we threw the boards in and took on the crown range again with the heater turned up. the sun set as we pulled into QT - nice , tonight the after party is at Subculture QT - it will be crazy so i'll leave your imagination to set the picture & you'll probably be right.
// Luca
