Sitting in the stands watching BMX for 10 hours a day might get a little stale. In between some motos and during the opening ceremony, the organization of the UCI world's in Bercy had brought in some entertainment. The variety was big. Instead of an expected big laser and fireworks show in Bercy, the announcer got a Mexican wave going with the people in the stands and an ALOHA group showed up that had girls and guys dancing in a traditional way while the guru interacted with the crowd and the band that sat in the middle of the track. On Saturday the Theo Tahiti show turned it up a notch and brought in some fire. A circle of fire was made with the help of some flamable fluid and the Hawaiian dudes were juggling with some sort of stick with fire at both ends. Even this can get a bit boring but as soon as one of the guys' leg was on fire this lead to some panic in the group. You see, the dude was wearing leg covers and one of them caught fire when he stepped in the burning circle. At first you think it's part of the show but it wasn't. The Flyin' Hawaiin' made the hell out of the circle and looked for sand to put the fire down. People around the infield jumped in to help out. Being the true showman he continued the show and finished it without more drama. 
2000 riders from 40 nations made it to Paris for the 2005 UCI BMX world's. Among them were 138 Elite men athletes, 37 Junior women, 99 Junior men and 51 Elite women. The Saturday night program had all these classes on the track deciding who would put on the rainbow jersey at the end of the day.
I entered a bet and it went like this: Name 8 riders that would make the Elite Men main. 1 point per rider for every rider that actually made the main. You scored 2 points if you had the right rider on the right spot he finished in. My list looked like this: 
Elite men results:
1. Bubba Harris/USA
2. Mike Day/USA
3. Robert de Wilde/NED
4. Thomas Allier/FRA
5. Jonathan Suarez/VEN
6. Marc Willers/NZL
7. Donny Robinson/USA
8. Jamie Gray/AUS 
UCI BMX WORLD'S BERCY, Paris, France.
From 1984-1990 the Palais Omnisport stadium with the grass walls hosted the King of Bercy BMX races. 2005 sees the return of BMX in the Bercy stadium with the UCI World Championships. Official titles are going to the Elite men and Elite women classes, the Juniors (men and women) and the Elite and Junior cruiser classes. Friday night had the cruiser categories and FATBMX was there to do a report.
UCI World Continental Ranking
The UCI World Continental Ranking has come to an end on all four continents. Each continent has hosted 10 rounds counting for UCI ranking points in both elite and junior classes. Each rider will bring their top 7 results/points to the UCI BMX World Championships in Paris, France where the UCI World Ranking will be decided. Leading up to the 2008 Olympic Games, the Nations Ranking will from now on become very important for countries. To view the current ranking, visit;
http://www.uci.ch/uci/bmx/online/
The Uci BMX Super Cross event was last weekend and what an event it was! We are talking an amazing track, perfect weather, and most of the best riders in the world! This race was the first race to show the riders the new Olympic format. There will be some differences when the Olympics come but for the most part it was the same. We had over 50 Elite riders here this weekend and that made for some intense racing action! Our first moto was our 1/8th final, and then we went into 3 rounds of quarters, one semi, and one main. Here is how my day played out!
Right before my 1/8th I broke the cleat on my shoe. I tried to fix it but couldn't and had to race the moto with it broke. It made for an interesting lap as I had to come from behind to make it. I finished 2nd.
Quarters: First quarter, I was still working on my bike and showed up 
Round 7 and 8 of the European UCI championships took place in Cheddar, UK last weekend. Thomas Allier is back from his nasty crash earlier this year and should be ready for the UCI BMX worlds in Bercy in 4 weeks time.
Elite men round 7 (Saturday)
1. Thomas ALLIER
2. Dale HOLMES
3. Arno KANIS
Elite Men round 8 (Sunday)
1. Ivo LAKUCS
2. Kelvin BATEY
3. Thomas ALLIER
Photo courtesy of BMXPix.org 
Results Final UCI Supercross 1, Aigle, Switzerland.
1st Robert de Wilde/NED
2nd Cristian Becerine/ARG
3rd Randy Stumpfhauser/USA
4th Jason Richardson/USA
5th Roger Rinderknecht/SUI
6th Nate Berkheimer/USA
7th Damien Godet/FRA
8th David Gibert/FRA 
Round 5 and 6 of the European BMX Championships took place in Vösendorf, Austria last weekend. With a full racing day on Saturday and a full racing day on Sunday it was an important weekend in Elite men now that Thomas Allier is sidelined with an injury. Frenchman Florent Boutte did well with a win on Saturday and a 2nd on Sunday.
Saturday/Round 5
Elite Men (51 Riders)
1 Florent Boutte/FRA
2 Dale Holmes/ENG
3 Henrik Baltzersen/DNK 
NBL Golden State National, Prunedale, California, USA. Round 5 of 8 Elite men championship series.
Day One, Saturday 21 May 2005
Elite Men
1 Robert De Wilde
2 Donny Robinson
3 Randy Stumpfhauser
4 Jarrett Kolich
5 Brandon Meadows
6 Jason Richardson
7 Mike Day
8 Nate Berkheimer 
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.