(Donner Summit, CA) – The 2011 Rahlves’ Banzai Tour, which made stops at both Alpine Meadows and Kirkwood earlier this season, concluded the tour with an exciting weekend of racing at Sugar Bowl Resort for the Silver Belt Banzai, the original race that launched the expanded multi-resort format.  

A unique blend of big mountain freeriding, ski & boarder cross strategy and downhill speeds, the Banzai pits four racers at a time down all-natural terrain with limited rules but to stay on course and finish in the top two spots to advance to the next round.

The Silver Belt, with roots dating back to the 1940’s, was Sugar Bowl’s original race alongside Aspen and Sun Valley’s pre-world cup competitions, and this year’s Silver Belt Banzai saw 111 athletes from around the globe compete in Sugar Bowl’s famed Silver Belt Gully, with all eyes on the $30,000 prize purse.

In the men’s ski division, Snowbomb’s Greg Lindsey took top honors in a commanding start-to-finish first place run.  Lindsey was followed closely by South Lake Tahoe’s Kyle Smaine in 2nd, the Jamaican Ski Team’s Errol Kerr in third, and George Hjelte in fourth place.

The women’s ski division saw a familiar finish, with three-time champion Shannon Rahlves taking the top podium spot, followed by Keely Kelleher from Salt lake City, and locals Hannah Jermstadt and Quincy Young rounding out the field.

Women’s snowboard saw exciting heats with Kirkwood’s Erin Wilson and Rose Daiek taking first and second respectively, while Jennifer McReady and Carrie Hall took the third and fourth place spots.

The Men’s snowboard division saw Tahoe City’s “Frenchie” rider Sylvain Duclos take the top spot’s honors, followed very closely by Sugar Bowl’s own Jayson Hale, with Dan Krenicki and Keith Davis rounding out the field.

Overall Banzai Tour point winners were Salt Lake City’s Marcus Caston for men’s ski, Shannon Rahlves for women’s ski, Sylvain Duclos for men’s snowboard and Jennifer Mcready for the women’s snowboard division.

And with parting clouds affording the first real top-to-bottom views of the challenging Silver Belt course, the Rahlves Super Final got underway with each winner from the Tour’s men’s ski division races challenging  Daron Rahlves himself for a one-run, winner-take all $10,000 Banzai blitz, with none other than tour namesake Daron Rahlves showing the field that while freeriding skills and ski-cross strategy certainly factor in, it’s truly downhill speed that wins this race.  For his efforts, Daron took home bragging rights, along with the prized “heavy weight champion of the world” Super Final Belt.

A successful tour for the Tahoe region and Sugar Bowl in particular, the Rahlves’ Banzai Tour is already looking forward to an even bigger and better series in 2011/12.

Special thanks to 2010/11 Rahlves’ Banzai Tour sponsors  Red Bull, Crux Events, Spyder, Bud Light, Technical Equipment Cleaners, Giro, Contour HD, Atomic, Suunto, Tahoe TV, 101.5 Truckee Tahoe Radio, Sierra Avalanche Center, Snowbomb, Powder, Coal, and The Start Haus.

For videos, info, complete results and more, visit www.sugarbowl.com and click on Banzai, or go to the official tour website at www.rahlvesbanzai.com.