White continues run at Honda Session slopestyle

White continues run at Honda Session slopestyle{mosimage}VAIL, Colorado – Call him what you will: Senor Blanco, the Whirling Tomato, Big Red or Ginger, just don’t call him late for the awards ceremony.

Shaun White, one of snowboarding’s most talented and charismatic rock stars, with as many mid-air rotations as monikers, continued his total domination of Vail’s Honda Session invitational snowboard event, capturing Saturday’s Bud Light Slopestyle competition with yet another history-making run.

A year ago at the Honda Session, the Carlsbad, California, native spun his way into snowboarding history with a winning run that included all four combinations of 900s, two and a half rotations in the air.

This year, 1080 (three complete rotations in the air) was the trick of choice for the 19-year-old White, as he combined a trio of these maneuvers with a 900 to post a score of 95.7, 2.7 points ahead of runner-up Andreas Wiig of Norway. Wyoming’s Travis Rice claimed the third place spot with a run that included a pair of back flips off the final kicker.

Never pushed for the majority of the hour and a half slopestyle session, White took notice of Wiig near the end of the competition, throwing down a run that included two 1080s and two 900s to earn a score of 93.0.

However, with time enough for one last attempt, White gave up his spot to Burton teammate Kevin Pearce, who managed to put together a run that moved him up to fifth spot in the final standings.

For his efforts on the evening, White pocketed $30,000 to go along with the $9,500 he took home Friday evening, courtesy of his victory in the Salomon Rails competition. Since the inception of the Honda Session in 2003, White has never lost a rails or slopestyle event in Vail.

The 2006 Honda Session is a project of the Vail Valley Foundation. For additional information on the Honda Session, visit www.sessionvail.com. For further information on the Vail Valley Foundation, visit www.vvf.org.

– courtesy Vail Valley Foundation