On Saturday the judging started at 9 in the morning with the third Group of amateur street. Pro Dirt finished at 11 at night (!) so it had been a full day at the FISE event and it was time for a beer. Make that the Australian Bar again for a few, followed by the Las Vegas place, and even the Rockstar bar downtown. All this with a 10 kilo backpack full of camera gear on my back, on foot. Yup it was a long day but a good one at that. It didn’t take long to pass out. Here are some pics for your enjoyment of day number 2. 
The weather wasn’t with us the first two days and with an outdoor event you will have to work with what you get. The dirt course was too wet and soft on Thursday and Friday so everything that was scheduled for those days was put into the Saturday evening program which meant straight finals for the Amateurs as well as the Pros. But there were problems with the jumps, and the strong wind that had some of the riders pull out. But those who did ride put on a show for the (big) crowd. Amateurs had a hip to start off with followed by an S turn and another two sets. The pro riders left from the higher container and were treated with 3 big killer jumps. Bob Manchester (UK) was riding well in practice but ended up in 7th behind one of the Musso brothers named Mathieu (FRA). Dusan Antalik (CZE) does mean one-handed tables which looked good over the big ones as he could hold them what seemed like forever, or long enough for the crowd to scream yeah! It was a bit of a surprise to see Maddog (USA) drop in on dirt.
Sometimes you end up in situations that cannot be planned. It just comes together and feels great. The MiniRamp comp at the FISE was one of those occurrences. With prelims partly being rained out the previous night the last few qualifiers made it in right before the finals started. In the meantime it was getting late, but the crowd got bigger and bigger and louder and louder. The alcohol might have something to do with it but the atmosphere was getting good except for that one bottle that landed on the miniramp during the comp and caused a flat tire for Ryan Taylor. The jerk got boo-d enough to let him know he messed up but a beating would have been on its place. But back to the ramp, where the action took place. With this rider field things were heating up, which was very welcome because it was freezing in Montpellier at night. One more hour of artificial light was at hand to fit the finals in on this new Monster Energy spine ramp which was a tad bigger than last year’s mini and a little smaller than the Braun spine.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.