With the crowd singing "Ole, Ole! Ole Ole!" and spontaneously throwing folding chairs into a monster heap, you might have thought it was a World Cup game about to turn ugly. Instead this was the scene at the BMX Vert finals for the European X Games Qualifier in Barcelona, Spain. Top riders from all over Europe showed up to vie for the last spots available in the BMX vert competition at the X Games.

“Look Mum, no hands.”, Tabron nails a 540 no hander.

By the time the finals rolled around Sunday night, word had gotten out that there was more to do at El Puerto Olimpico. The "Olympic Port," where the event is being held is incredible; you can sunbathe at a topless beach during the day then party all night at over 20 clubs. This weekend was especially "guay" as Action Sports have been added to the list of entertainment offerings and over 20,000 people showed up on Sunday to check it out. The vert ramp was situated on the end of a pier overlooking a beach, the ocean and harbor views made for an amazing setting during the finals. The crowd and their energy peaked for what was the last event of this X Games Qualifier. At stake was qualification for two more riders to the X Games in Philly, and a lot of national pride.

Jason Davies on his way to 3rd and an invitation to the X Games.

When Spain's own Eduardo Terreros entered the ramp from the roll in the crowd went "loco." This reaction from his fellow Spaniards prompted Eduardo to go huge, launching at least 10 feet above the coping for every trick and well above most other competitors. He did this despite a strong wind over the pier that had nearly resulted in cancellation of the competition. With about 30 seconds left in his first run, Eduardo took a bad fall. It looked like he might not get up but he slowly got back on his bike made his way back up the ramp. The crowd demanded more and Eduardo dropped in again only to wreck hard on a huge air in the final seconds of the run. Eduardo had trouble getting back on his feet but the crowd didn't as they rose and gave him a standing ovation. As he struggled off the ramp with his bike I thought that was it for the local hero.

But Eduardo wasn't done and he came back for a second run. The crowd was singing as he threw a tailwhip and at the end of the run attempted a flair which resulted in another crash "muy malo." Eduardo somehow stood up, acknowledged the crowd, and got off the ramp. The ramp side crowd erupted and a group of riders and friends/family of the riders began throwing their folding chairs into a huge pile. From the other side of the ramp it looked like a Jerry Springer show only with a lot more guests. Before the mayhem escalated the next rider dropped in and the contest continued.

Whip it good. Eduardo Terreros giving the people what they want.

The favorite to win the event was Simon Tabron out of England, who was coming off his win at X Trials in Bristol, CT. Simon did not disappoint. He went as big as usual and his runs included a no handed 540 and a couple of 900's. His second run ended with an alley-oop 900 that resulted in a fall and gave the crowd a brief scare. Simon described the fall this way after the event, " I was just so tired at the end of my second run. I went for the alley-oop 9 the minute I took off I knew it was wrong because my energy wasn't keeping up with what my brain was telling me what to do. So I had to take it." Despite this fall his runs were both very strong and earned him his second gold at an X Games Qualifier this year.

Taking second was Stefan Geisler, from Germany, who has already qualified for the X Games. It was Jason Davies, now hailing from Tempe, AZ, placing third and Zach Shaw from England in fifth place who received the coveted invitations to the X Games in Philly. In fourth place was the crowd favorite Eduardo Terreros. Simon Tabron said this about Eduardo's performance, "The way he was riding in practice and the way he is riding at the moment he deserves to be do better than fourth, but he bad luck in his runs and ended up fourth. It happens to all of us sometimes. It's competition that's how it goes." Asked to comment on the crowd's reaction to Eduardo, Simon summed it up well, "It was cool as hell."

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