Graham Watanabe is King of the Mountain

Congratulations to Scott Snowboarder Graham Watanabe, son of the VP of Scott Motorsports, Scott Watanabe, for winning the opening round of the Jeep "King of the Mountain" boardercross series.

Watanabe topped former snowboarding World Cup champion Canadian Jasey Jay Anderson in the finals. The made-for-TV event aired on CBS Sports on Sunday afternoon. Graham was on it all day and it looked like the clear lens Scott goggles definitely gave him an advantage in the flat light conditions! He also used what race announcers called a "motocross move" to set up and pass Anderson in the first run of their two-run final. Both racers actually hit the deck when Anderson unintentionally clipped the back of Graham's board. Watanabe was able to get up and finish his run, while Anderson was left holding a broken board.

Graham kept the second race tight at the top of the hill and Anderson wasn't able to pull away - giving Graham the overall win. The live-to-tape event was actually aired a few weeks ago. Since then Graham won the U.S. National Snowboard Championships, which qualified him to race the next three World Cup rounds in Austria and Italy. If all goes right Graham could quite possibly be named to the '06 Olympic Team. Not bad for a kid who just last year broke his pelvis in a gnarly snowboard crash.

Author: Pat Schutte