Shaun White Causes TTR Rules Change

The Swatch TTR tour has announced a few changes that will kick in next season for the tour. Not much really, though it clearly says that the men’s champ will be determined at the Burton US Open. You will probably recall that Kevin Pearce was named the TTR champ and then a few weeks later Shaun White showed up at the Snickers Classic & Popcorn Wallride, grabbed 700 points and went home as the top points leader with no check to show for it. Yeah, that wasn’t planned. So the TTR gave him $50K (Same a Kevin got paid) but White wasn’t crowned champ.

Also helping avoid this issue in the future is the elimination of the 25% bonus at the US Open for the guys and the Roxy Chicken Jam for the women. That bonus basically allowed White to secure the tour title after the fact since he received 500 bonus points by winning two events there allowing him to be within striking range at the Snickers event.

Anyway, if you’re interested in reading more about the changes, we have the release below.

Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour Announces Strategic Tour Changes for 08/09 Season

Innsbruck – June 13th , 2008: From May 19th to 22nd, the TTR Board Members met in New York City, USA to determine what measures are necessary to best help progress the sport of snowboarding. The most notable changes for the 08/09 Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour are as follows:

• The last 6STR events of the 08/09 Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour will be the Tour Champion Crowning Events: Burton US Open (Men) and the Roxy Chicken Jam (Women). The Tour Champion will be determined at those events.
• The Tour Champion Crowning Events will have 1000 Swatch TTR points up for grabs. The 25% point bonus will no longer be available.
• Tour Prize money will be paid out to the riders according to their rank at the conclusion of the Burton US Open (to Top 10 men) and the Roxy Chicken Jam (to Top 5 women)
• All riders ranked on the final 07/08 Swatch TTR Ranking List will carry over his / her final TTR ranking points (as of April 30, the last day of the TTR event calendar) into the next season, which shall automatically count as the first result of the new season´s ranking list.
• A rider’s final ranking will be determined by the average of 8 results. Riders carrying over their last season points, need to post 7 results in 08/09.
• The amount available at each Star level has been modified to create a clear separation between the 1 – 2Star, 3 – 4Star and 5 – 6Star while maintaining integrity within the tiers.

At the General Assembly held on May, 22nd 2008, the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour members have approved these changes unanimously.
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ABOUT TTR:
Founded by Terje Haakonsen and industry innovators in 2002, the SWATCH Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour is a non-profit, rider-driven organization with the mission “to create the highest quality competitive snowboard environment in the world, using authenticity, accessibility, innovation as guiding principles”. Since its foundation, the Swatch TTR Tour has been developing into the most exposed snowboard tour worldwide featuring global grass root and key independent freestyle snowboarding events over a ten-month period from Southern to Northern Hemisphere locations. Events are rated via a 1-through-6Star system, with points allocated accordingly, a 6Star event holds the highest. Any rider participating in these events, from up-and-coming to professional talent, earns ranking points and a position on the SWATCH TTR World Ranking List. The top male and female rider based on an average of their best eight results of the season (7+1 system) is crowned SWATCH TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion.