Aguirre Dominates Pipe; White Snatches Dew Cup

By Tawnya Schultz – Continually wet weather didn’t drag Mason Aguirre down as he claimed victory at the Toyota Championship Superpipe Final this afternoon at Northstar-at-Tahoe. Through pouring rain (yeah), Mason asserted himself as the point-leader throughout the event, furthering his lead by five points with a spectacular 94.50 second run.

Steve Fisher finished second with 87.00, and Shaun White, who won the Dew Cup for his tour-wide point-accumulation (270), rounded out third-place at 81.75.

Aguirre’s first run was a carbon-copy of one he dialed in the Preliminary; in his second, he strung together back-to-back 10s, a frontside 9, and a switch backside ally-oop 7.

“Mason landed such a solid, insane run,” Shaun White said after the event. “It was super progressive; I’m stoked to see him win.”

Steve Fisher, whose 215 cumulative points slotted him second place in tour standings, said he was pleased by today’s outcome. “I really liked the format, and Northstar was a great place to end such a sweet event.”

Not one of the twelve finalists were able to surpass Mason’s stylish and near-perfect runs, although some drama cropped up during the final heat. After Mason ratcheted his score to 94.5, Steve (who scored a point higher in the Prelim) and pre-qualifiers Shaun and Scotty had yet to take their final runs. While Steve went down on his first run, he stomped his second run; ultimately, however, he lacked the consistency and technicality to match Mason’s performance today. Scotty, who was the only one who could potentially beat out Shaun for the Dew Cup (only if, however, he won and White placed as low as ninth), also slammed during his first run. During his second attempt, he excited the crowd by lofting a massive frontside 10 on his first hit. He potentially stood to podium until he bottomed out on his last hit.

“Lago went insanely huge on that first hit,” Mason said. “I could not even believe what I saw. It was so sick!” Scotty ended up tenth today and third overall in tour standings.

Shaun, who seems to thrive in final heats, executed a clean yet relatively mellow first run with a frontside stalefish 540 and a frontside 10. During his second he seemed to have it together until the last hit where he landed in the flats of the pipe on an alleyoop McTwist. Shaun’s 270 total points from the three stops of the tour still earned him the coveted Dew Cup and “Male Athlete of the Year” snowboard honors.

Taking home fourth was Burton rider Jack Mitrani from Stratton, Vermont, who pulled back-to-back 9s during his solid first run. Jack was stuck with his original score after he bottomed out during his second run. “I’m actually really stoked on placing fourth,” Jack said. “I’m also so stoked for Mase–he killed it.”

Olympian J.J. Thomas placed fifth with the 73.75 he carried forward from his first run.