The mobile set-up was more than decent, the sun was there but the only set-back was the strong wind. Things like that can happen at the beach. Also plenty of beach sand made it on the ramps which were being swept off by the crew all day long.
BMX had three classes: Junior (under 16), Amateur and Pro. For the pro class half a dozen riders from the UK flew in and also Channon Balorian from The Netherlands made it down to the French Mediterranean sea. Qualification took place on Saturday and the finals were on the program for Sunday. Luckily the wind died down a bit for Sunday's final which was very welcome as riding in a sandstorm (like on Saturday) is no fun. And you know what? a decent crowd showed up. The timing was right with the May holidays happening at the same time and the loud music attracted the "passers-by" to stop and take a look at the action.
It needs to be said that the level in pro riding is simply amazing. Tricks that were considered "contest highlights" 10 years ago, are now being done mid-run as fillers. With the ramp set-up many transfers were possible and some of the sick moves were taken from one ramp to the next one. The wind sure made things tricky and crashing on the rough asphalt was not something that riders wanted to do. After qualifying in 11th Jack Watts turned his riding up a few notches. The crowd got behind him as he flipped the doubles and span multiple wild looking 540 flairs on the quarterpipe. It shot the Englishman on top of the judging sheets early on in the competition. Every rider had two 45-seconds runs and two attempts to pull a last trick. Most riders' first runs were good, followed by a worse second run. Not everyone pulled the last trick that they had in mind but at least everyone got to try on an empty course. In practice some of these lines were impossible to try out but with a clear course, the stands full of people and an MC screaming his brains out, it
was time to give the big tricks a shot.
We got to see many front flips, flipwhips, and 3-double whips. The wind didn't seem to disturb the riders much when they had to ride the course. The grandstands on the beach blocked a bit of the wind, but it still wasn't perfect. When the comp was over, the riders found out what place they got. Here's the list if you didn't check in already.
Results Canet, Pro Park finals:1. WATTS Jack 17 ans Portsmouth 93.30 pts
2. JUSTICE Tom 25 ans Grantham 90.00 pts
3. CROSWELL Josh 18 ans Portsmouth 87.30 pts
4 CAILLET Istvan 21 ans St Foy De Peyrolieres 87.00 pts
5. DEGARDIN Maxime 20 ans Bordeaux 86.60 pts
6. MERIGEAU Arnaud 26 ans Bruges 86.30 pts
7. CHOSSON Jeremy 23 ans Clermont-Ferrand 86.00 pts
8. BALORIAN Channon 23 ans Rotterdam 83.30 pts
9. CALLUM Emery 17 ans Portsmouth 82.60 pts
10. JEANJEAN Anthony 15 ans Bassan 81.00 pts
11. ROBERT Gael 26 ans Lunel 77.60 pts
12. MUSCAT Ricky 17 ans Southwick 77.30 pts
Amateur Park Results:
1. PANAVILLE Thibaut 18 ans Chassieu 89.60 pts
2. HAYWARD Troy 13 ans Portsmouth 89.30 pts
3. ROBBE Enzo 17 ans Béziers 89.00 pts
4. FERASSE Florian 18 ans St Jean De Vedas 85.30 pts
5. CHAZALON Tom 20 St Mathieu De Treviers 84.80 pts
6. BRIAND Nicolas 20 ans Montpellier 84.60 pts
7. MORIEN Quentin 19 St-Clément De Rivière 82.60 pts
8. ROZIERES Mathieu 20 ans Lioujas 81.00 pts
9. CARROT Thomas 16 ans La Salvetat Sur Agout 80.60 pts
Junior Results Canet (under 16)
1. ANTONUCCIO Valentin 13 ans Capestang 96.00 pts
2. VICTOR Vincent 16 ans Castries 94.00 pts
3. CARROT Edouard 13 ans La Salvetat Sur Agout 92.00 pts
4. GIGNOUX Basile 15 ans Viols Le Fort 91.00 pts
5. OPPLERT Louidgi 13 ans Baillargues 88.00 pts
6. FABRE Anthony 15 ans Perpignan 87.00 pts
7. GAYRAUD Dorian 14 ans St Pons 83.00 pts
8. BÉDUE Maxime 14 ans Mauguio 82.00 pts
The first stop of the FISE World Tour in Montpellier is coming up shortly. Make sure to not miss this one. It will be Canet, times 25 when the BMX scene gets down to the river from 28-May - 1 June.
-BdJ