Bright Batters Pipe Final; Clark Raises Dew Cup

By Tawnya Schultz

It was Australian native Torah Bright who proved victorious today at the Toyota Championship Superpipe Final at Northstar-at-Tahoe. Under dreary skies, the always-smiling Torah threw away her first run after sitting down while landing a backside 7. During her second attempt, Torah earned a whopping 95.5 by composing one of the most innovative and stylish runs, consisting of a flawless backside 3 to switch backside 7. “Torah’s switch backside spins were so technical; she was doing tricks you never see in the pipe,” said second-place winner Kelly Clark. “She clearly threw down the best run of the day.” Made sopping wet by the persistent rain, Burton rider Hannah Teter still managed to earn third-place with a beautiful first run.

On her first hit, Hannah launched a huge frontside air double grab, following up with generous frontside and backside 7s. She held onto her first-run score of 83.5 due to a slip-up in her second. With 245 overall tour points, Hannah lost the Dew Cup–which was highly favored toward Kelly–by 35 points. In the end, Kelly was handed the Dew Cup for her overall point-total of 280, which she earned with second-first-second place-finishings at each respective Winter Dew Tour stop. Although Kelly was launching higher than the rest of the girls today, her overall trick selection and minor imperfections on her landings stuck her in second place with a first-run score of a 90.

“It’s always so sick to watch the other girls because everyone has such different styles,” Hannah said. “Torah’s run was so insane; I’m really happy about the results today.”

Volcom rider Elena Hight finished third in tour standings after cranking back-to-back 9s during her second run; however, her touching down on her last hit relegated her to fifth-place today with 78.5 points. “The Winter Dew Tour ended on my home turf, so that was pretty sweet,” Elena said. “I can’t wait to do it again next year.”

Seventeen-year-old Ellery Hollingsworth dropped her first-run score after falling on the first hit, yet she finished fourth today and fifth overall with 185 total points. “The weather made it a little bit difficult to deal with, but it was still a good day,” Ellery said.

Pipe champ Torah was similarly upbeat. “I still managed to land the run I had planned, so I couldn’t be happier,” she said.

“The rain made the visibility and pipe conditions tough for sure,” Kelly said. “It was super soft and definitely rutted out from yesterday, but it didn’t seem to affect anyone very much.”

One rider it did seem to affect a little was Weston, Vermont, local Elizabeth Beerman, who rounded out the competition with a sixth-place finish here at the Final and overall in tour standings. It seemed difficult for her to get enough speed and height on both of her runs.