James Hamilton new Swatch TTR No. 1 on home turf

The 08/09 season of the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour has only started but young riders are already impressing and mixing up the Swatch TTR Rankings thanks to their consistent performance. After the 3Star Billabong Snow Stock, it was the 19-year old James Hamilton from Auckland, New Zealand who, thanks to the support of the home crowd fought his way up to the World No. 1 spot.
James placed 8th in the Halfpipe of the 5Star Burton New Zealand Open and 11th in the Slopestyle format gaining him a total of 1248.01 TTR ranking points at the Open. He continued his strong riding at the 3Star Billabong Snow Stock two weeks later where he placed 11th earning him another 292.24 TTR ranking points. His Season-End Bonus Points gave him an extra 605.36 points (he finished last season in World No. 26). As every rider’s points is determined by the average of his best eight results, Hamilton, who has 3 results and the point bonus, comes up to a total of 272.70 points overtaking Chas Guldemond (USA), who has only posted two results and his season-end point bonus so far, only bringing him 256.12 points.
What James Hamilton has to say about his Top spot in the rankings, “I'm feeling really good right now, it’s an amazing feeling being No. 1 on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour, I'm really looking forward to the rest of the Tour and what it holds, and I would love to hold my position. “
We can look forward to the next events on the Tour in Australia, the 4Star Oakley Stylewars and the 3Star Boost Mobile Sno Sho presented by Samsung, where the battle for the World No. 1 spot will surely be continued and fierce competition is awaiting Hamilton.