Lisa Wiik at US Open 2010 © uso10 (photographed by jake stangel)

At the second day of competition of the 6Star Burton US Open in Stratton, Vermont over 80 snowboarders fought for one of 41 spots to proceed to qualifiers which will happen today, Thursday, leading on to the slopestyle finals scheduled for Friday, March 19th and halfpipe finals set for Saturday, March 20th.

Although Peetu Piiroinen (FIN) has already taken an unassailable lead and secured the 09/10 TTR Champion title at the 6Star Oakley Arctic Challenge, riders are going to be duking it out for a prized Top 5 finish in the TTR World Rankings.  Riders who finish in the TTR Top 5 will grab a piece of the $200,000 TTR prize purse and receive automatic invites to all major TTR events for the 2010/2011 season, so there is still a lot at stake.

Keep on the watch for the likes of Swiss destroyer, Iouri Podladtchikov (who took gold at the Winter X Games Europe), who will be defending his World No. 2 position in the TTR world ranking list from Norwegian rookie and World No. 3, Gjermund Braaten, Slovenian rider Marko Grilc, who took bronze at Winter X Games Europe and sits in World No. 4 and from American up-and-comer, Eric Willett, who is currently sitting in World No. 5.  The slopestyle competition comes up first where there are sure to be some shake-ups before the final TTR world ranking placements are finalized after the halfpipe showdown.

The women have their first day of competition today, Thursday, in the slopestyle qualifiers. Already set to compete in the semi finals is former Swatch TTR World Snowboard Champion Jamie Anderson (USA), current Tour leader Lisa Wiik (NOR), World No.2, 3 and 4 Sarka Pancochova, Sina Candrian and Enni Rukajärvi. It will be a tough battle for some of the last 6Star points before the women's season finale at the Roxy Chicken Jam next week.