The paint was still dry in some sections of the brand new U Arena in the La Defense district of Paris but the passion and enthusiasm for Supercross was time-old as Europe’s biggest Indoor race wowed fans on its return to the French capital. Native star Marvin Musquin – the million-dollar winner of last month’s Monster Energy Cup in Las Vegas – was again the main man as the 27 year old was crowned the ‘King of Paris’ for the second occasion. After his second major success of the off-season, #25 is surely one of the favourites for the 2018 AMA Monster Energy Supercross series starting in Anaheim, California on January 6th.
The Paris Supercross returned to the metropolis after a three year stint in the city of Lille and the U Arena was a modern, spacious and fitting site for Supercross’ principal ‘home’ away from North America.
The new seating sections were full on Saturday evening and similarly packed on Sunday afternoon as Musquin set a mean pace around a well-received layout that was quick and open for racing. The course lacked the dense technicality of AMA tracks but the smallest mistake made the difference as the leaders – Honda’s Cole Seely and Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne and Dean Wilson – circulated within tenths of a second.
Musquin had the goods on the track by winning the Main Event on Saturday and from Cole Seely and Wilson on Sunday. Monster Energy’s Cedric Soubeyras, who so memorably blazed his way through UK Arenacross, took his Suzuki to fifth overall.
The fans caused the roof to rattle in full appreciation of Jackson Strong’s front flip in the FMX segment of the programme with Edgar Torronteras and Josh Sheehan also defying physics and the veteran Spaniard even impressing the crowd with his Beatbox capabilities.
The 34th edition of this famous race – that has seen some of the biggest names in the sport grace French soil – was all about the ‘revenir’ to Paris but also highlighted that the appeal of Supercross and some stunning racing talent is a strong as ever. 17th-18th of November 2018 and the next time that the U Arena gets dirty and loud won’t come soon enough for some.
Images & Words by Monster Energy
