Making it to the final round at a pro street contest these days is getting hard. With over 60 pros entering the FISE contest in Montpellier, France, it was a tough job to make the 16 people cut.

Mike Laird, Dave Mirra, Mike Spinner and Alessandro Barbero rode well enough on Saturday to make the finals on Sunday but there was no way they could take it easy.

Come finals time the crowd was huge at both sides. An estimated 5000 were watching the comp and it did get loud at times. Mirra could count on some real fans in the crowd. Whenever his name was mentioned, he received support. In warm up Dave mentioned that “It’s On!” and with a BMX hungry crowd like this there was no way to be stuck in fourth gear.

Unfortunately Dave’s energy wasn’t transferred into pulling all his hard tricks but it wasn’t because of lack of effort. The no-handed 7 went wrong, as did the no-handed 360 backflip but Dave got back up and didn’t leave the course without leaving his mark. Dave Laird was pulling everything; from no-handed 360-s to toe-jams on the ledge and wall. His riding was strong and Laird finished 5th. Not bad for his first European comp. Spinner was pumped and tricked his way around the course with more spins and tech moves than you can imagine. He finished off with a 1080 attempt but did not quite pull it. He’ll need to come back to Europe soon to show his Euro friends how it’s done. Alessandro Barbero pulled double whip 360-s on the box and the spine, flairs and double whips on the quarter but at some point during the (Mirraco) jam session he got some backwheel problems.

All in all the event was a big success. Riders had fun, the crowd saw some good riding, Mirraco gave away a bike and you can count on most people to be back in 2008.