The Burton Qualifiers Tour Hops the Border for Stop 5: Ontario

Lake effect was in full swing, delivering heavy squalls north of Toronto just in time for stop 5 of the Burton Qualifiers tour at Beaver Valley, Ontario.

Photos: Dan Chrobak

The Beaver Valley terrain park staff put in hard hours carving out a classic stunt ditch for what would be the last qualifying stop along the Burton Qualifiers tour before the finals at Seven Springs.

The course offered a full array of both traditional and unique features, from the standard down rail to the transition section – complete with wall ride, corrugated tube (standing vertically), and the Anon Optics A-frame feature. The 15 & under division took the course with their eyes set on the standard rail features, but when they ventured out into the bowl it unleashed a flow of creativity that fueled the entire day.

Jesse Jarret led the pack, tossing burly maneuvers down the rails and going hard on the lower section for a solid 1st place finish and $300. Coltan Eckert followed up with a barrage of consistent and stylish maneuvers across the course, taking home 2nd and $200. Third place and a check for $100 went to Liam Brearly, who’s seasoned competitive skills proved useful in a consistent flow across the whole course.

The open division fired off in true Qualifiers fashion, with the first ten minutes involving an onslaught of chaos and impressively technical rail maneuvers. Riders were hell-bent on sending every trick in the book down the rails, but the judges decided to switch it up and close off the top section of the course and focus on the bowl section. In the end, the clear winner was Joel Dalacker, who claimed dominance on every feature with clean style and a wide variety of tricks across the map. He walked away in 1st place, $800 richer (in U.S. dollars at that, hello exchange rate!) Danny Glibota slid in for 2nd with unique style and proper execution – two high priority points for the judges – and walked away with $400. the highly contested 3rd place spot and a check for $200 went to Ian MacGregor.

As the fifth qualifying stop along the tour, this was the last chance for riders to earn a spot in the finals event at Seven Springs, Pennsylvania. While the top three in each division won cash prizes, the top six all locked in spots at the finals. For full tour info and finals event details head to BurtonQualifiers.com. ∆