4* TTR Spring Battle in the Absolut Park

Sun 05 April 09

The Absolut Park shaping crew led by Seppi Harml and Christoph Walchhofer have a reputation for being some of Europe’s finest park builders and they certainly lived up to the reputation

The Swatch TTR 4Star Absolut Park Spring Battle took place this past weekend under brilliant bluebird skies. An international crew that included some of the Swatch TTR top riders of the 2008/2009 season assembled to take on the stars of the Austrian snowboard scene in an ‘Absolut Battle’. Jaakko Ruha (FIN) attacked the features with super consistent Finnish style to place first which earned him 500 TTR ranking points, $4000 USD and moved him up to World No.26 In second was local ‘Absolut Park’ rider, Herbie Thaler (AUT) with Ville Uotila (FIN) taking third and ascending into World No.22.

The Absolut Park shaping crew led by Seppi Harml and Christoph Walchhofer have a reputation for being some of Europe’s finest park builders and they certainly lived up to the reputation. The riders utilized the 20m ‘Cowboy Kicker’ and a number of obstacles including a wallride, logs, boxes and rails to ride it ‘hard – cowboy style’ throughout the day.

47 riders entered into the competition with 10 eventually progressing through to the ‘super finals’, with their two best runs making up the end result. The level of riding was some of the best seen at the ‘Absolut Park’ with 9s and 10s being thrown down with ease. Jaakko Ruha outstyled his opponents and took first place with a Backside 10 to Frontside 9 Tail grab on his first run, and a Cab 9 to Backside 7 on his second. He was stoked with his efforts “The riding was pretty good, the park was awesome. It took some time to get used to it but when I got it, it went really good for me. It was a great season finishing event”.

Local rider, Herby Thaler (AUT) had the crowd going wild every time he dropped in and managed to snag second place with a Cab 9 to Frontside 7 Tail and a Backside 9 Melon to Cab 270. 2007 Spring Battle winner, Ville Uotila (FIN) claimed third place with a FS 9 Melon to Switch BS 9 on his first run and a Cab 9 to FS 9 on his second.

The 2009 Swatch TTR Absolut Spring Battle increased to 4Star in 2009 and has pushed the limits to be one of the most slamming spring events yet to be seen. The season is in its closing stages but there has still been plenty of 3Star action around the globe. The Oakley Girl Sessions has been going down in Ruka, Finland concurrently to the Absolut Park contest and has seen some great action from Finnish and international girls. The Chill and Destroy Tour Finals and the Walliser Tour went down today in Arosa and Belap in Switzerland, and coming up from April 5th – 10th, the USASA Nationals are taking hold of Copper Mountain, USA.The last 4Star event on the Swatch TTR is to come up soon to, the World Rookie Fest Finals in Ischgl from April 15th – 19th , 2009.

Top 25 Riders of Absolut Park Spring Battle:

1 Jaakko Ruha
2 Herbert Thaler
3 Ville Uotila
4 Ludwig Lejkner
5 Erik Botner
6 Seppe Smits
7 Matevz Pristavec
8 Simon Gruber
9 Michael Stanschitz
10 Rudolf Kröll
11 Stefan Falkeis
12 Anthony Smits
13 Andreas Fritzenwanker
14 Kim Andre Eliassen
15 Christoph Schaidreiter
16 Christian Hettegger
17 Joachim Krogstie
18 Victor De la Rue
19 Max Weikl
20 Jean-Jacques Roux
21 Lars Österle
22 Thomas Minichberger
23 Heinz Löhle
24 Christian Kröll
25 Florian Mausser
 

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