I've got my fingers crossed right now as I'm trying to head over to the East Coast of the US to Stratton, Vermont for the 2008 Burton US Open from March 17 to 22. The last event in both the Burton Global Open Series, and the Men's 2008 Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour, this is the climax of the snowboard season - as both the Women's and Mens BGOS Champion will be crowned, as well as the Men's TTR Champion. The women still have one event left to decide the winner of their TTR Tour Trophy: the 6 star Roxy Chicken Jam in Mammoth March 27 - 29.
With both Slopestyle and Halfpipe events for male and female riders, and a prize purse of $250 000, the US Open gives riders 25% bonus points for each comp to guarantee a definitive Tour Champion - that means a whopping 1250 points for the first prize winners at each event. Confused? Then read the TTR event preview for a full explanation.
Currently sitting at number one in the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour, Kevin Pearce is the hopeful to take first place at both 'pipe and slopestyle, closely followed by Finnish riders Risto Mattila and Peetu Piiroinen. 06/07 Champ Shaun White is also set to turn up to defend his title, but, having taken a backseat to the TTR this year, it's unlikely he has the points to win the championship.
Currently sitting at the top of the women's ranking and the 06/07 champion, Torah Bright should also impress next week - but she will have to face Burton's charger Kelly Clark in halfpipe, plus Britain's own Jenny Jones - who's currently number one in the BGOS rankings.
If I make it, I'll try to get you loads of videos, interviews and news straight from the slope...
If I don't, keep logged onto www.go211.com for live coverage and www.ttrworldtour.com and us open-snowboarding.com for daily updates.
Image: Torah - Roxy, Kelly and Kevin - TTR
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