pro qualifying comp. Sure thing. A seat was nice after spending most of the day wandering around. The pro contest was 20 riders deep so not too bad. A few Brits had made it, a few Dutch riders and the rest of them were all French. With one run each and a best trick, the qualification was done in no-time. Then it was off to the sports hall across the street for the flatland Pro finals and Street line which started at 20:00hr. 
Barriers surrounded the Flatland area and some ramps were set up for the Street Line event that was going to take place after the flat comp. Flatland was won by Thomas Noyer, 2nd for Joris Bretagnolles and 3rd for Romain Georges. It was one of 5 flatland comps this weekend. Pretty nuts. The Street Line comp saw Sulivan Gaincetin in first, McGuirk in 2nd and Nicolas Cambon in third place. 
The line consisted of starting on stage, hit the ledge/ramp down to the bottom, hit the manual pad with rail/ledge and turn around on the bank to wall. Then back towards the stage. It was good entertainment for an hour or so. The bunnyhop comp didn't start until 23:30hr making it a long day. Riders started dropping out around the 85 cm mark but the comp went on until 24 years old Alex Prenveille 
cleared the 110 cm height pole. With 30 more minutes of free Kronenbourg left we hurried with the drinking before heading to the apartment with all my gear. Luckily it was just a 400 meter walk. Perfect.Sunday saw all the Park finals. Under 15 amateur, 15 years and older am class, the girls class and also the Pro class. The VU is a contest where anyone can enter. No need for an invitation. It's great that riders get to experience being part of a contest from registering, getting t
o practice with other riders, preparing for a run, etc. It all has to start somewhere.But of course most people come to watch the pro class, and the stands were full. The atmosphere was amazing as the MC's did a good job hyping the crowd without going overboard. The music didn't disturb, which means it was good. Long gone are the hip hop only days that France was "famous" for and although I like listening to hip hop, it got on your nerves at the end of each weekend.
With the live webcast going the riders were ready to step things up. Each rider had two runs with one last trick afterwards. For last tricks we saw a.o. double loops (Channon Balorian), a barspin 900 (Anthony McGuirk), a
270 bar to bar to bar (Declan Brooks) over the hip, curved wallride to whip out (Jimmy van Belle) and a giant bikeflip over the hip by JB Peytavit. The riding was absolutely sick. Luke Padgett started off his first run with a bang but then hung up and hurt his leg. He's okay and healing up but it would have been rad to see him mix it up with the top guys in the comp. In the end, this is how the results look. I'm sure you'll get to see the videos soon.In the end it was good times in Pessac where the riding was sick and the atmosphere was good. I just walked past the longboarders, scooters and fixies and straight to BMX. Gotta love it.
BdJ
Results Pro PARK BMX:
1 - Peytavit Jean-Baptiste
2 - Mc Guirk Anthony
3 - Brooks Declan
4 - Van Belle Jimmy
5 - Chosson Jérémy
6 - Maxime Degardin
7 - Prenveille Alex
8 - Torterau Pierre
9 - Balorian Channon
10 - Masson Greg
11 - Thivet Julien
12 - Padgett Luke
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.