Dirty Jersey Hosts Freeski Super Fling

By Kevin Dolan
Video by Hype Productions

This past weekend on March 6 in New Jersey, a.k.a. Dirty Jersey, the first annual Freeski Super Fling took place at Mountain Creek. This marked an important milestone for Mountain Creek because it was their first ever core freeski event. The Slopestyle and Superpipe Competitions were set to be big ones, but an unfortunate warm spell and some rain resulted in less-than-excellent conditions. Many pre-registered competitors backed out of the competition due to fog and patchy snow. Registration opened early and the riders just came pouring in, and Red Bull and Freeskier were on hand to energize the athletes and give them some reading materials. Slopestyle training was on the schedule first for one hour and started around 8:30am. The course was set with an up-slope flat bar, rainbow rail, flat box, 40-ft hit, and Creek’s brand new c-box. The already high technical difficulty of the course was heightened by the near-zero visibility. The scoring consisted of a two-run format, for a combined total score.

By 10:00am the 17 and under age group slopestyle qualifiers was on. Kids as young as 12 hit the course to show their skills. During the two qualifying rounds, the youngsters put out some pretty great runs that showed true talent with the next generation of newschool skiers. 17 and under slopestyle winner Anthony Genello threw down some solid rail slides, 270 out of the up flat bar, and finished it out with a hucked misty 7. Kenny B. fell on his last qualifying round, but still pushed the limits with a sick off-axis 9 which landed him second place.

The 18 and over slopestyle qualifiers started immediately afterwards at 11:30am. As the big boys took the field, the show started to become a little more interesting. Rossignol rider Paul Cotter from Breckenridge, CO flew in for this event and said, “the rails are dope, jumps are nice but not too much snow, overall…super impressed.� These guys truly pushed the limit of the course with super tech tricks. You were seeing switch rail slides with 270s or 450s out, switch/unnatural spins, clean 180s, wrapped up rodeo 5s, lincoln loops, and straight flips. The competition even got to a point where it was so heated and serious that rider Marty Larsen said, “I think I can feel the blood trickling down my ass.� Marty had to have won best trick of the day, sticking a one-ski switch rodeo 5 after losing the other one halfway through the flip.

After the qualifying rounds, the top ten from the 17 and under age group advanced to the finals, along with the top eight from the 18 and over age group. This is where it was all or nothing. In the older group Paul Cotter put together the sickest run of the day to snag the win: upslope rail to 450 out, switch off the rainbow, switch on 270 out on the box, and finishing it all with a super clean switch 3 tail grab. The 17 and under winner Anthony Genello followed in Paul’s steps with a 270, back to back solid rail slides, and wrapping up his misty 7 over the booter.

Superpipe qualifying rounds were to begin around 3:00pm, followed by a final showdown in the pipe at night under the lights. However, conditions were variable and the weather really didn’t permit for a multi-hit pipe. The event coordinators decided to skip qualifiers and go right to finals, but only with a little change up: the event became a one-hit wonder deal. Riders were judged upon the best trick they could manage in the one hour jam session. With butter-soft walls it was extremely hard to go big, but the riders still put on a show. Skier Eric Tompkins was boosting 10ft out with alley-oop double grabs followed by a nicely wrapped up 900 which brought him first place. The spectacle of the show was rider Marty Larsen, who continued to amaze everyone with his big flairs even though he had suffered a serious leg injury earlier in the week. The girls showed up and threw down in the pipe, too. Kerry Giblin, Bethany Sands, and Cara Sengebush put on some runs that showed girls can rip too; Cara took home the gold with her backside and frontside 3s.

The competition ended earlier than planned, but with a great amount of satisfaction on how the day went down. Freeskier’s Associate Publisher Christopher Jerard said, “I am impressed with the turnout, hardcore East Coast riders, and the rails.� Awards were handed out at the bottom of the Superpipe where the athletes took to the podium. First place prizes in each category consisted of brand new K2 Public Enemies, Footbed’s, a K2 backpack and tee-shirts, O’Neill gear, Adidas goggles, Red Bull, and Powerbars. There was so much good stuff that the list goes on and on for second and third place in each category.

A big thanks goes out to Freeskier, Heino’s Ski Shop, Mountain Creek, their Marketing Department, Pipe and Parks Crew, and all other event coordinators for making this happen.



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Final Results
18 and older Slopestyle
1. Paul Cotter
2. Steve Csaba
3. David Marshall

18 and older Superpipe
1. Eric Tompkins
2. Jonathan Rudolph
3. Paul Cotter

17 and under Slopestyle
1. Anthony Genello
2. Kenneth Buongioinio
3. Matt Hesler

17 and under Superpipe
1. Niall McNeice
2. Dylan Lutomski
3. Rob Pieper

Women’s Superpipe
1. Cara Sengebush
2. Bethany Sands
3. Kerry Giblin

www.mountaincreek.com
www.freeskier.com