Halfway through the Wendy’s Invitational Men’s Superpipe Prelim Elijah Teter sat comfortably in first, and he wanted it to stay that way, “I want to go to finals bad. I want to clean up this second run and definitely go bigger.” Teter’s wish was granted after a blow out victory, “I’m feeling great man, I’m looking forward to going as big as I can in Saturday’s Final.”

Danny Davis and JJ Thomas will meet Teter in the Final. They both are pre-qualified in Snowbasin after their smooth performances in Breckenridge.

Big falls, big spins and plenty of air peppered this Prelim battle, and after a solid last minute run by Steve Fisher the final start list was cemented. Steve sat in 12th after his first run. A nice slam on the deck blew Steve’s first run, but he admitted later, “Uh, I fell asleep in the air.” After the nap Steve jumped from 12th to 2nd with his last run. His Haakon Flip, 1080’s and other bell and whistle tricks greased the way to his solid 2nd place finish.

“Uh, I fell asleep in the air.” — Steve Fisher

Matt Ladley took 3rd. The kid combined 1080s and 900s to impress the fans and make the Final. Roger Kleivdal took 4th; he also had the big spins and fired off 1080s and 900s left and right.

The Superpipe baby, 16 year-old Trevor Jacob, snuck into 5th place. The young gun rides fast and prefers 1080s right out of the gate. Trevor also had back to back 900s and other trickery. Trevor’s second run was his best and hilarious, funny because he dropped without a plan, “I don’t know my run. I’m just gunna’ spin a little bit and try to do good.” Broc Waring had the same plan and it also worked out, he placed 6th. Broc took home the highlight of the day with an amazing 720 Japan Air.

Luke Mitrani didn’t show up today, but his older brother Jack did. Jack took 7th after plenty of spins and a solid second run. Huge alley-oops stand out as Jack’s bangers. Following Jack is the Coloradan Dylan Bidez. Dylan sealed his spot by owning the 720. He threw them frontside, backside and switch, but more importantly, he threw them with style.

Scott Lago, 9th, and Brennen Swanson, 10th, rounded out the final qualifiers. Scott, who showed up with a new age Abe Lincoln beard, is known to throw caution to the wind. The wild-style, while fun to watch, often ends in Scott slamming into the deck, against the wall, or landing on anything except his board, but in an unusually calculated second run Scott laid down the tricks he needed and made the Final. Brennen sat right behind Scott, just making the cut, by chucking plenty of 720s, a 900 and landing on his feet.

Poor Zach Black, 11th, was bounced from qualifying for the Final after fellow Breckenridge local Steve Fisher whipped out that last minute slice of greatness. Steve said he felt bad for kicking the much younger Zack out, but no one really believed him.

Saturday night the lights come on in Snowbasin for the Men’s Final. Expect hammers to be thrown with big air, big spins and doublecorks being the norm. Danny Davis will be shooting for back to back Dew wins while a field of the world’s top Superpipe talent, including two Olympians, aim to dethrone the current Dew Cup Superpipe leader.

PHOTO GALLERY: Men’s Superpipe