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Keith Stubbs from the Toyota Big Air in Sapporo

Tue 01 March 11

Last Saturday was the 15th annual Toyota Big Air in Sapporo, Japan. The likes of Sebastian Totaunt, Chas Guldemond and Peetu Piiroinen featured in a stellar lineup, and WSG writer Keith Stubbs and videographer Sam Lynch saw it unfold

Keith Stubbs from the Toyota Big Air in Sapporo © Photo: Keith Stubbs

An epic end to a fun road trip…

Last Saturday was the 15^th annual Toyota Big Air in Sapporo, Japan. Myself and videographer Sam Lynch scored a few press passes for the event, and managed to squeeze it in on the last night of our Hokkaido road trip.

Now I understand why so many Japanese big air comps make it in to snowboard movies (‘The White Album’ and ‘91 Words for Snow’, to name two). The fans get so into it, it’s unreal. The front rows fill up with screaming teenage girls like it’s a Miley Cirus concert. Combine that with Japanese hip hop artists, impressive fireworks, some pretty funny in-between entertainment features, and a selection of the best riders in the world… need I say more?

This year’s Toyota Big Air went off massively. It was a clear, cold night, so the in-run was fast and riders were landing really deep – definitely a contrast to last year’s comp where the falling slushy snow made it hard to reach the knuckle and you needed knee-length gum boots to stop your feet from getting soaked.

Two Japanese rider’s made it through to the quarters, up against some of the biggest names on the TTR tour. Young guns like Sebastian Totaunt, Gjermund Bratten and Mark McMorris were out to prove themselves against the likes of Chas Guldemond and last year’s winner Peetu Piiroinen.

The doubles started coming out in the quarters with Seb Toots absolutely stomping his double backside rodeos. McMorris had the doubles going on as well and knocked out local rider Keito Kumazaki with a nice back-10 double cork against Kumazaki’s switch double roadys – a little controversial possibly???

The quarters also saw a few flat spins, with Seppe Smitts throwing back-10s and Chas killing it with his backside 1260s. Guldemond vs Pironian was definitely the big match up, but Chas’ back-12s were too much for Peetu’s double cork 10s, knocking last year’s winner out a bit earlier than expected.

Chas continued all the way to the finals with his 1260s, stomping every single one like he had legs of steel. He met Seb Toots in the final and continued to dominate, even attempting a 1440 on his last hit of the night, which he just butt-checked on – super close!

The best part of the night for me wasn’t the crazy Japanese enthusiasm or Chas’ epic 12s, but it the way Chas continually acknowledged the Japanese audience and their customs by bowing JP-style to the crowd on almost every run, check the pics…

So if you’ve never been to a snowboard comp in Japan before, put it on your to-do list now.  In fact, if you haven’t ridden in Japan yet, that should come first. Check out the award-winning Snow-search Japan guidebook for the low-down on riding in Japan.

By Keith Stubbs.

Thanks for Chris Chan in Niseko for sorting out the press passes.

 

Full Results 

 

QUALIFICATION			1/4 FINAL			1/2 FINAL			FINAL
RANK	BIB	STANCE	NAME	NAT	SPONSORS	1ST RUN	2ND RUN	BEST POINT	1ST RUN	2ND RUN	BEST POINT	1ST RUN	2ND RUN	BEST POINT	1ST RUN	2ND RUN	BEST POINT
01	06	G	Chas GULDEMOND	USA	ROCKSTAR	091	242	242	093	278	278	261	227	261	268	098	268
02	12	G	Sebastien TOUTANT	CAN	O’NEILL, RIDE, OAKLEY, RED BULL	100	285	285	280	084	280	282	103	282	091	092	092
03	13	R	Mark McMORRIS	CAN	BURTON, RED BULL	099	269	269	112	261	261	096	234	234	vs. C. GULDEMOND
03	03	G	Seppe SMITS	BEL	BURTON, RED BULL	259	108	259	109	263	263	101	227	227	vs. S. TOUTANT
05	01	G	Peetu PIIROINEN	FIN	NIKE6.0, BURTON, ANON, TOYOTA	277	200	277	276	156	276	vs. C. GULDEMOND
05	15	R	Kazushige FUJITA	JPN	HEAD	219	095	219	111	249	249	vs. S. TOUTANT
05	10	R	Keito KUMAZAKI	JPN	SALOMON, BONFIRE	254	050	254	090	245	245	vs. M. McMORRIS
05	07	G	Gjermund BRAATEN	NOR	NIKE6.0, MONSTER, NITRO	244	262	262	102	102	102	vs. S. SMITS
09	04	G	Ryota TAKAHASHI	JPN	OAKLEY, CAPITA	106	216	216
10	16	R	Ayumu NEDEFUJI	JPN	YONEX	213	089	213
11	08	R	Daisuke MURAKAMI	JPN	K2, PHENIX	202	087	202
12	05	R	Antti AUTTI	FIN	BILLABONG, GIRO	085	092	092
13	14	R	Atsushi ISHIKAWA	JPN	FLOW, QUIKSILVER	090	032	090
14	09	R	Asato YOSHIDA	JPN	YONEX	075	060	075
15	02	G	Hiroumi FUJIMOTO	JPN	SALOMON, REVOLT	068	034	068
	11	G	Sage KOTSENBURG	USA	NIKE6.0	DNS		DNS

 

For more information visit www.toyota-bigair.jp/2011

 

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