Monster’s Danny Kass and Elena Hight repeat as Vans Tahoe Cup champs; Louie Vito’s an impressive 2nd and Andy Finch’s only a couple clicks back in 4th
CORONA, Calif., (March 3, 2008) – The Monster Energy Army took charge of the halfpipe at this past weekend’s Vans Tahoe Cup event with Danny Kass and Elena Hight sweeping 1st place in both the men’s and women’s competitions.
"It’s always nice when your athletes step up and dominate a contest that a rival energy drink company sponsors," said John Lee, Director of Sports Marketing for Monster Energy. "Monster’s halfpipe competitors blitzed the finals and put Monster 1-1 across the top of the men’s and women’s standings. The highlight reels are all Monster from the Vans Cup in Tahoe this past weekend and we couldn’t be more pumped."
Probably have to start in 4th place with Monster Energy’s Andy Finch. The Truckee (Calif.) native went bananas at his hometown resort, boosting the comp’s highest airs and narrowly missing (hand drag) a bionic 1080 that would have easily put him on the podium.
"What can I say…I went for it, big," said Finch. "I’m bummed I didn’t make it an all-Monster podium, but I for sure gave it everything I had. It was nice to see Danny And Louie go 1-2 in the pipe."
In repeating as champ, Kass took a break from filming his new Grenade film "Boned Age" to compete at this popular stop on the Vans tour. Busting large with Kass-A-Rolls and the biggest air-to-fakie anyone’s seen in a while, Kass again impressed the judges enough for 1st place.
Had Kass sketched a bit, Monster Energy’s Louie Vito was right there for the gold. Vito’s linking of back-to-back 1080s and 900s threw caution to the wind and stood up and yelled at everybody the so-90s adage: "Spin to win!" Vito’s been on top of the snowboard world as of late and it showed at Tahoe. His 2nd was well-deserved.
When the women dropped into the Tahoe pipe there was no question as to who was boss. Hight threw down with the only 900 of the day – sending her hometown fans into a frenzy. So pumped up was Kass’ sidekick, The Dingo, he blared out "If you didn’t win I will run naked down the pipe."
"Good thing for everybody I won," said Hight with a laugh.
Other Monster Energy-backed athletes in attendance were: Leanne Pelosi, Sketchy D and Pacific Northwest snowboarder/skater legend-in-the-making, Ben Watts.
