Snowpark NZ - Sept 30: Volcom Stone's Peanut Butter & Rail Jam

Sept 30: Volcom Stone's Peanut Butter & Rail Jam - Billy & Eric Dominate!!

Sunday 28th September 2008 was the fourth annual Volcom Stone's New Zealand_Peanut Butter and Rail Jam snowboard event at epic pow covered Snowpark, NZ.

Eric Willet styling at Snow Park

A truly international turnout graced registration with riders from Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Slovakia, USA, Japan, France, Dunedin and Auckland after blizzard_conditions on Saturday postponed Volcom Stone's Peanut Butter Rail Jam till Sunday. Patience paid off with perfect fun conditions of sun, 20cm of fresh snow and smiles,_all starting the day with first tracks enjoyed by competitors of the most non-competitive, relaxed event of the season. A mum told Quentin Robbins her kids should've been up at Cardrona training for the NZ Junior Nationals but they were like "no way we're going to Snowpark because the Peanut Butter Rail Jam's on today!!!"

PBJ sandwiches for everyone!

Groms (14 & Under) division saw Billy "Billdogs" Hayman of Jindabyne (NSW, Australia) absolutely destroy the course with smooth f boards and f lips on the down bar, combos of f 180s b 360s on the up box taking his second victory of the PB&RJ tour after winning the Mt.Buller event in July "I'm so stoked, it was a real fun day and everyone's riding sick!" said Billy. Close behind in second was Mack James from Wanaka who showed his local knowledge ousting Scotty James who nailed a f 50 to switch up impressing the judges in third. Hamish Shea "little man with a big bag of tricks" said Will Jackways, who made the c-box combo in the practice and managed to throw down in the final in fourth position.

Billy Hayman charging

Girls division killed it. These girls were attacking all the hits non-stop through the heats to the final. Snowpark local Alli Schultz was launching big gaps to b lips sending the pulse out to the girls to step up and so they did. Japan's Takana Sukuragi from Nagoya City flowed the whole c-box combo in the final to take third, Australia's Wiki Jones b lipping with super style to take second. Queenstown queen of shred Christy Prior stood out with overall smoothness and style on all the features, down bar highlights include tail 270' out then switch, both perfectly landed plus a killer front board to fakie, congratulations on the win Christy and great to see such a talented girls turnout!

Charlotte Trundle charging

Open division had a super solid turnout from all over the globe with North Carolina's Cline Ingle winning "Gooeyest Move of the Event" powered by Electric with a super styled f board with a look back on the landing more steezy stomp than all taking the $50 cash, a pair of killer Electric goggles and second place. It was the Eric Willett (Wanaka) show in the final with a series of big tricks including f 270 board on the down bar, 270 tail on up-box, tail 450 up box winning the event with Adam Shaw and Chris Gulick rounding out the top four.

Cline Ingle from North Carolina, USA

Junior (15-17) division saw the pie man Jye Kearney 50-50 front flip the up-box, avoided all distraction hitting the c-box combo and mastered the down rail making it a back to back victory at Snowpark after last year's victory in the same division. Leon "MacGyver" McKay from Orewa took second, Wanaka locals Christian Low and Jay Walsh - first to do the c-box combo during the day in third and fourth respectively all receiving custom Volcom NZ PB&RJ bread trophies, note do NOT eat them.

Jye Kearney feeling the vibe of the c-box combo

Winners have qualified to compete at the international Peanut Butter and Rail Jam Championships at Mammoth Mountain, California in April 2009 with a huge cash purse of over US$30,000.00. Competitors qualify at PB&RJ contests across the globe including all over Europe, Canada, Japan and Australia to climax in an international show down at Mammoth. The PB&RJ series is part of Volcom Stone's Let The Kids Ride Free program aimed at giving back to local snowboard communities and provide a fun relaxed atmosphere for kids of all ages to express their talent, gain contest experience, eat for free and walk away with some free product.

Giveaways with WIll Jackways!

Huge thanks to the Snowpark team, Jake McCarthy, Will Jackways and Quentin Robbins for judging, Marcus Wehrle for marshalling, RJMC for commentating, Zane and Scott from Electric, Abbi and Sarah, Volcom NZ's Scotty Todd for helping out. Massive thanks to our generous friends at Electric, Vestal, Stomp Pads, Red Bull and Solrx Sunscreen for tons of giveaways for the kids.