Shaun White Expected to Miss at Least Two AST Dew Tour Stops; Unlikely to Repeat as Dew Cup Champ

Shaun White is expected to miss at least two events of the 2008 AST Dew Tour, which kicks off next week in Baltimore with the Panasonic Open. AST President and General Manager Wade Martin told reporters on conference call Wednesday that White was not going to be at the Panasonic Open and August’s Wendy’s Invitational in Portland.

He is expected to attend the Right Guard Open in Cleveland in July but his status at the tour’s final two events in Salt Lake City and Orlando is still to-be-determined. Martin attributed White’s decision to scheduling conflicts having to do with his snowboarding career.

White’s AST Dew Tour career has been affected by snowboarding from the start. In 2005, White missed the final three events of the season to prepare for the 2006 Olympics and in ‘06, he missed the final two events, also apparently due to scheduling conflicts. However, in 2007 White came ready to compete, attending all five tour stops. He won the first three and had third-place finishes in the final two, easily winning the AST Dew Cup in the process. The AST Dew Cup is awarded to the top athlete in every discipline at season’s end.

White is now unlikley to repeat as Dew Cup Champ, leaving the door open for two-time champ (and 2007 runner-up) Bucky Lasek to win his third. Canada’s Pierre-Luc Gagnon will be his biggest competitor, as Gagnon came close to unseating Lasek in the standings in 2007 and trailed him for the cup in 2006.

White is expected to still appear at this summer’s X Games and at the inaugural Maloof Money Cup in July.