Tom Stober was the first rider to set the level. He finished his first run with a no-handed flair and did exciting one-footed seatgrab barspins at height to get in the lead. This was a sign for the 9 other riders to step it up.
Romaric Fath was stuck in traffic and had little practice time on the big ramp that was set up on the Trocadero right in front of the Eiffel tower.
Tom Haugen rode very well with loads of x-up and barspin one-handers and tailwhips at the same height and also pulled a toothpick to barspin in his second run. It was the best vert riding I've ever seen from Tom and he was probably disappointed by his 9th place. The level was high though, for instance, the rider on 8th place pulled a barspin 540 and did x-ups to double-barspins, no shit.
Eduardo Terreros is a fun and fearful rider to watch. He goes high, does opposite stuff, twists, goes upside down and whips his FlyBike in the air. Edu was all over the ramp to find himself in 7th after the prelim results were announced. He's one solid rider and finished right behind no-handed flairing
Tom Stober. In 5th we have another crazy good rider by the name of
Jay Eggleston. Jay went higher than everyone else and did rockets, no-handers, x-ups, cancans, no-footed inverts, turndowns and 540-s at 8 feet easy. Who else were there then?
Jay Miron, Koji Kraft, Simon Tabron and
John Parker. When
Koji drops in he never holds back. It was full throttle for the Oakley rider from Chicago. He's got his own variations with lots of switch-handers, lookbacks and huge whips. Koji doesn't know the term "set-up air", it's back to back when he's on. The Eiffel Tower looked on in the background when
Parker pulled a huge double whip to 540 on the opposite side. It was insane.
The Beast warmed up doing all kind of liptricks but when the clock started for his one-minute run, Jay kicked off with big airs and the 540-whip at height. We don't get to see it often but Jay's vert riding is still up there with the best of them.
Tabron had a little warning of what it would take to end on top in this vert contest. He threw in a one-handed 540 to turn down (in one air) and also pulled a 900 next to plenty of his other stretched variations.
I just saw lightning for the first time today so chances of having the pro vert finals this afternoon are pretty slim. This would mean the vert results look like this:
1. Simon Tabron
2. Jay Miron
3. John Parker
4. Koji Kraft
5. Jay Eggleston
6. Tom Stober
7. Eduardo Terreros
8. Matt Fairbairn
9. Tom Haugen
10. Romaric Fath
The French don't wake up early so when the street contest started at 09:45am on Saturday, the field was not very big. Practice started at 08:45 and registration was before that. The course was still missing a container full of ramps that is stuck on the Hungarian/German border.
Tom Haugen got a flat right before the prelims started so he decided to give it a miss knowing that he would make it to the finals on Sunday regardless because only 10
street riders entered.
Dimitri Ivanov had a hard time waking up and getting used to the course. The Twenty rider qualified in 3rd and when the finals are not happening later today, it will be the strangest 500 bucks he ever made. The spot will also qualify him for the LG finals in England. I guess waking up early for him worked out this time.
Koji's run had a few highlights. One is his puking even before his run. When you finish a bottle of Vodka the night before, it's hard to ride a street contest in good shape. Koji couldn't get it together in run one but went off in his second run with big airs on the quarterpipe to flip on the jump box and tailwhips + transfers left and right. Qualifying in first (and probably winning his second LG street contest in a row if the thunder storms outside keep on going) was
Dave DiIllewaard. The GT rider is riding so solid. He makes everything look easy and that includes footjams, footjam tailwhips, 360 tiretab to barspins on the spine, no-handed 180-s over the spine, 360-barspins on a quarterpipe (to fakie) and 360 variations over the jump box. The Aussie is one bad ass rider.
1. Dave Dillewaard
2. Koji Kraft
3. Dimitri Ivanov
4. Olivier Tourrell
5. Ricki Roich
6. Romaric Fath
7. Cyril Serel
8. Michael Grossi
9. Nicolas Nemer
10. Tom Haugen
Let’s call Paul. He decided to hang out at the venue. Damn, it’s dry and the finals may be run later today with a possible night program. Hmm…I better get my ass over there in case I need to judge.
Although it did dry up later in the afternoon on Sunday, the Saturday qualifiers stayed as the final results. As soon as the vert riders made it on top of the ramp for a joint demo, Paul and I made our way through Paris traffic for the 5 hour trip back home.
Next up is Barcelona, Spain, followed by the LG stop in Rimini, Italy. Vert demos only with a Pro/Am street contest on a better street course than the riders had to deal with in Germany and France.
BdJ
Tom Stober was the first rider to set the level. He finished his first run with a no-handed flair and did exciting one-footed seatgrab barspins at height to get in the lead. This was a sign for the 9 other riders to step it up. Romaric Fath was stuck in traffic and had little practice time on the big ramp that was set up on the Trocadero right in front of the Eiffel tower. 
Tom Haugen rode very well with loads of x-up and barspin one-handers and tailwhips at the same height and also pulled a toothpick to barspin in his second run. It was the best vert riding I've ever seen from Tom and he was probably disappointed by his 9th place. The level was high though, for instance, the rider on 8th place pulled a barspin 540 and did x-ups to double-barspins, no shit.
Eduardo Terreros is a fun and fearful rider to watch. He goes high, does opposite stuff, twists, goes upside down and whips his FlyBike in the air. Edu was all over the ramp to find himself in 7th after the prelim results were announced. He's one solid rider and finished right behind no-handed flairing Tom Stober. In 5th we have another crazy good rider by the name of 
Jay Eggleston. Jay went higher than everyone else and did rockets, no-handers, x-ups, cancans, no-footed inverts, turndowns and 540-s at 8 feet easy. Who else were there then? Jay Miron, Koji Kraft, Simon Tabron and John Parker. When Koji drops in he never holds back. It was full throttle for the Oakley rider from Chicago. He's got his own variations with lots of switch-handers, lookbacks and huge whips. Koji doesn't know the term "set-up air", it's back to back when he's on. The Eiffel Tower looked on in the background when Parker pulled a huge double whip to 540 on the opposite side. It was insane. 
The Beast warmed up doing all kind of liptricks but when the clock started for his one-minute run, Jay kicked off with big airs and the 540-whip at height. We don't get to see it often but Jay's vert riding is still up there with the best of them. Tabron had a little warning of what it would take to end on top in this vert contest. He threw in a one-handed 540 to turn down (in one air) and also pulled a 900 next to plenty of his other stretched variations.
I just saw lightning for the first time today so chances of having the pro vert finals this afternoon are pretty slim. This would mean the vert results look like this:
1. Simon Tabron
2. Jay Miron
3. John Parker
4. Koji Kraft
5. Jay Eggleston
6. Tom Stober
7. Eduardo Terreros
8. Matt Fairbairn
9. Tom Haugen
10. Romaric Fath
The French don't wake up early so when the street contest started at 09:45am on Saturday, the field was not very big. Practice started at 08:45 and registration was before that. The course was still missing a container full of ramps that is stuck on the Hungarian/German border. Tom Haugen got a flat right before the prelims started so he decided to give it a miss knowing that he would make it to the finals on Sunday regardless because only 10 
street riders entered. Dimitri Ivanov had a hard time waking up and getting used to the course. The Twenty rider qualified in 3rd and when the finals are not happening later today, it will be the strangest 500 bucks he ever made. The spot will also qualify him for the LG finals in England. I guess waking up early for him worked out this time. Koji's run had a few highlights. One is his puking even before his run. When you finish a bottle of Vodka the night before, it's hard to ride a street contest in good shape. Koji couldn't get it together in run one but went off in his second run with big airs on the quarterpipe to flip on the jump box and tailwhips + transfers left and right. Qualifying in first (and probably winning his second LG street contest in a row if the thunder storms outside keep on going) was Dave DiIllewaard. The GT rider is riding so solid. He makes everything look easy and that includes footjams, footjam tailwhips, 360 tiretab to barspins on the spine, no-handed 180-s over the spine, 360-barspins on a quarterpipe (to fakie) and 360 variations over the jump box. The Aussie is one bad ass rider.
1. Dave Dillewaard
2. Koji Kraft
3. Dimitri Ivanov
4. Olivier Tourrell
5. Ricki Roich
6. Romaric Fath
7. Cyril Serel
8. Michael Grossi
9. Nicolas Nemer
10. Tom Haugen
Let’s call Paul. He decided to hang out at the venue. Damn, it’s dry and the finals may be run later today with a possible night program. Hmm…I better get my ass over there in case I need to judge.
Although it did dry up later in the afternoon on Sunday, the Saturday qualifiers stayed as the final results. As soon as the vert riders made it on top of the ramp for a joint demo, Paul and I made our way through Paris traffic for the 5 hour trip back home.
Next up is Barcelona, Spain, followed by the LG stop in Rimini, Italy. Vert demos only with a Pro/Am street contest on a better street course than the riders had to deal with in Germany and France.
BdJ
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.