Danny Davis Upsets White by Getting Crafty in the Superpipe

By Adryan Roane Ritter – The energy at the Men’s Superpipe Final couldn’t have been better today. A huge crowd was in attendance and the best of the best were throwing down under sunny skies (finally) and good music. No one could have guessed that the day would bring forth an unexpected upset when Danny Davis, in his creative second run, beat out the favored-to-win Shaun White. At the end of the day, Shaun ended up in second place just 1.25 off of Danny Davis’ score, with Flow team-rider Scotty Lago coming in at a respectable third.

The first run brought forth quite a few mishaps from the stacked field of 12 men, and going into the second run, it was Scotty Lago sitting at the head of the pack with a high score of 90-even. The New Hampshire-native’s run consisted of a colossal front 1080 to a cab 720 into back-to-back 900s. He rounded out his run with a giant air to fakie melon that brought the crowd alive with appreciation.

Scotty dropped first in the field for his second run yet sketched out on his first spin. He headed down to the finish corral to watch the second heat unfold. “I guess I’m just playing the waiting game now. Everyone up there has the potential to put down a good run,” Scotty said as he watched his friends and competition drop. “I’d hate for anyone to fall,” he added with a wink and a sarcastic grin.

The waiting game turned out to last the entire field of riders, with the tension building as the last two riders–Prelim leader Danny Davis and competition slayer Shaun White–were the only two riders left to drop. High-scorer Scotty Lago patiently waited at the bottom of the pipe.

Standing before the start corral, Danny Davis, with a smile and a wave to the fans, slid his board towards the pipe and popped 180 over the lip. Dropping Switch? Oh shit… he’s about to change up his run in a big way! Danny exploded into one of the hardest tricks out there — a switch backside 720 — and stomped it. The crowd went insane as Danny strung together a backside 900 with back-to-back 1080s (frontside to cab), before blasting the biggest frontside 900 of the day. His packed run earned him a score of 94.75, bumping fellow FREND member Scotty Lago into second place.

There was only one rider left to go who had the credentials–and the opportunity–to upset the standings. Shaun White dropped in and boosted an impressive switch alley-oop backside rodeo to a backside 900 to frontside 1080 combo. He continued with a cab 1080 to frontside 540 before finishing ’er off with the biggest McTwist of the day. The crowd roared but it wasn’t enough to bump Davis out of the lead. Shaun’s run earned a 93.50, 1.25 points shy of Danny Davis’ amazing run.

Within seconds of the scores being announced every rider, family member and friend had wrestled Danny into one of the most intense celebratory hug-outs in snowboard history. Danny, that scrubby kid from Michigan, came in with a reeling score of 94.75, upsetting the number-one Prelim qualifier and Friday’s Snowboard Slopestyle winner Shaun White from his second Winter Dew Tour win this weekend.

Nonetheless, Shaun’s outstanding performance this weekend in Breckenridge, with a first-place in Slopestyle and a second-place in Superpipe, puts him as the leading contender with 190 as the Winter Dew Tour travels to Mount Snow, Vermont, January 8th-11th.