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NEW YORK - April 1, 2008 - The AST Dew Tour, the world's premier season-long action sports tour, today announced that premium seating tickets (Action Zone and Reserved Seating) to the Toyota Challenge in Salt Lake City will be available for purchase beginning Tuesday, April 1. The Toyota Challenge is the fourth of five events on the 2008 tour and will be held at Salt Lake City's EnergySolutions Arena, Sept.11-14. Returning for its second year, the event will feature the greatest talent in skateboarding, BMX and freestyle motocross.
Action Zone tickets for the Toyota Challenge are available for $100 each day, Friday-Sunday, for children and adults. The Action Zone ticket provides access to priority reserved seating for all finals competitions on purchased day, as well as official merchandise, a behind the scenes tour, 20 percent off merchandise coupon, Fast Pass Access into venues and interactive areas, along with a 12-month subscription to one TransWorld Magazine (TransWorld Motocross, TransWorld Skateboarding or Ride BMX). The Reserved Seating ticket is available for $35 each day, Friday-Sunday, for children and adults, and guarantees a reserved seat for all finals competitions on purchased day.
With the advanced purchase of any AST Dew Tour ticket, Friday through Sunday, fans will receive a free ticket to the qualifying competitions being held on Thursday of the Toyota Challenge. Tickets to the Thursday qualifying competitions are not for sale. General admission tickets will go on-sale April 28th. Tickets will be available at Ticketmaster, Ticketmaster.com, and select Ticketmaster retail outlets or by phone at (801) 325-SEAT.
The following are the scheduled days for competition finals at the Toyota Challenge:
Friday, September 12th
BMX Vert and BMX Dirt Finals/ Concert
Saturday, September 13th
FMX, BMX Supercross, and SKB Park Finals
Sunday, September 14th
BMX Park and SKB Vert Finals
*Schedule is subject to change
The complete 2008 AST Dew Tour schedule is as follows:
Event Date Location
Panasonic Open June 19-22 Baltimore, Md.—Camden Yards Sports Complex
Right Guard Open July 17-20 Cleveland, OH—North Coast Harbor
Wendy's Invitational Aug. 21-24 Portland, Ore.—Rose Quarter
Toyota Challenge Sept. 11-14 Salt Lake City, UT—EnergySolutions Arena
PlayStation® Pro Oct. 16-19 Orlando, Fla.—Amway Arena
Entering its fourth year, the AST Dew Tour is the most watched and attended action sports property in the world. Attendance for the 2007 AST Dew Tour totaled nearly 300,000 and an average of 41 million viewers tuned in via NBC and USA each year. The top athletes in the world will take part in this year's Tour, all competing for the highly coveted Dew Cup that will be awarded in Orlando at season's end to champions in each of the six disciplines. The 2007 Dew Cup winners include Nate Adams (Freestyle Motocross), Jamie Bestwick (BMX Vert), Ryan Nyquist (BMX Dirt), Daniel Dhers (BMX Park), Shaun White (Skateboard Vert) and Ryan Sheckler (Skateboard Park).
AST
The Action Sports Tour (AST) is the recently created umbrella brand and organization of the world's most prestigious action sports events. Currently the AST consists of two national tours, one international event and an amateur series: AST Dew Tour (debuted in 2005), AST Winter Dew Tour (debuting in 2008), AST China (debuting in 2008), and Free Flow Tour (debuted in 2005). The AST properties are home to over 300,000 spectators each year and broadcast in 100 countries and 280 million homes worldwide. The AST Dew Tour consists of five major, multi-sport events spanning across the country, with a cumulative points system, a $2.5 million competitive purse - the largest in action sports - and an additional $1 million bonus pool. Each event features skateboarding (park and vert), BMX (park, vert, and dirt) and freestyle motocross. At seasons end, the overall point's leaders in the six disciplines are crowned year-end champions and awarded the prestigious Dew Cup. Key lifestyle elements at each Tour event include the Festival village, specialty competitions, and live cutting edge music. The AST Dew Tour partners include Mountain Dew (tour title sponsor); and Panasonic, Right Guard Xtreme, Wendy's, Toyota and PlayStation® (event title sponsors). Associate partners include Ball Park, Mongoose®, and Verizon Wireless. More information can be found at www.ast.com.
