In just a month, namely on November 18 and 19, the Paris Supercross will celebrate its 40th edition. Once again the capital will host the queen event of the winter calendar, and fans were not mistaken since the evening of Saturday 18 will be sold out!
It was felt, and this is confirmed day by day. Only Supercross of great international prestige outside the American continent, Paris always meets the same success, both on the side of the drivers and the spectators who will make the Paris la Défense Arena vibrate for two evenings!
Ernée’s revenge for the Lawrences?
Paris is preparing to welcome the Lawrence brothers as it should be, who have swept everything on their way, winning no less than five US titles this season! Hunter the ancest won in Supercross 250 on the East Coast as well as in motocross 250, while Jett won in Supercross 250 in the West before getting on his 450 Honda to win the Motocross title and then the Supermotocross title. Respectively aged 20 and 24, Jett and Hunter were also the architects of the second place recently won at the Motocross des Nations, which was held in Ernée (Mayenne) in front of more than 40,000 spectators.
For their first visit to Paris and for their first Supercross in 450, the two Australians will find on their way Ken Roczen, with whom Jett has fought regularly this season. King of Paris in charge after his winning return last year, Ken has a revenge to take against Jett who beat him in Supermotocross (but it was Roczen who won the MXGP category at the Nations, despite Jettson’s demonstration in the final round) and the duel promises to be sumptuous because a real rivalry animates these two gifted driving!
A Supercross worthy of the USA
As every year since returning to Paris in the sumptuous setting of the Paris-La Défense Arena, the organizers and the JLFO team, led by reference tracer Cédric Lucas, will build a track worthy of the US standard, with a solid series of whoops and a sand section capable of making the finest technicians in the discipline make mistakes. This will be a first test of importance for the Lawrence brothers who have only evolved so far in 250 in the US Supercross, while their main rivals have many seasons of experience in the queen category!
For example, in addition to Ken Roczen, Justin Barcia, who is recovering from his broken collarbone last month and intends to match David Vuillemin’s King’s title record (four, against three at “Bam-Bam who won in 2010, 2013 and 2019). And of course, of course, the double champion SX Cooper Webb, whose return to Yamaha Star Racing in his favorite discipline will be. Including Justin Hill, who will ride a Kawasaki Bud Racing, the Paris SX achieves the feat of line up four of the top eight of the SX US 2023 and, better yet, three of the four best in the new SMX series, including its big winner, Jett Lawrence, of course! Faced with such adversity, the best tricolor specialists will need noisy supporters, as was the case with the MX of Nations, to resist the invasion from America. It should also be noted that as regards the classification by Nations, won alternately since its creation in 2002 by the USA or France, could return for the first time to the “Bremain of the World” team, under the aegis of its Australian prodigies and its flying Japanese!
Tom Vialle, first in Paris!
The great novelty of the Paris 2023 SX is the redesign of the 250 category. Paris will always be a stage of the French SX Tour SX2 championship but it will run into a single final, played in the pre-program, after the tests (another good reason to arrive early at the stadium so as not to miss any crumb of the show!). But the best French chance to shine being in 250 with Ernée’s hero, Tom Vialle, the organizers have decided to give category 250 full international status!
Two-time Motocross World Champion (2020-2022), Tom will make his big debut in Paris after a SX learning season in the USA. A few weeks after Ernée, the Southerner will discover the atmosphere that reigns in Paris when the Arena gets to supercross time! There is no doubt that he will receive a name-worthy welcome for his first real SX in France, against his compatriots engaged in the French championship but also against the Japanese Jo Shimoda, formidable at the end of the US season where he signed several victories and who will make his great debut under the colors of Honda HRC, the Americans Jace Owen (former Prince of Paris, hired by the GSM team) and Cullin Park (who will ride under the banner of Honda SR), as well as the Australian Matt Moss (Kawasaki Bud Racing), the reigning Prince of Paris. This year, in Paris, there will be two top-level international categories and not just one!
High-flying Freestyle
A forerunner in Freestyle show, Paris sets the bar a little higher every year, and the 2023 edition should make an impression with no less than four ramps on which the pilots will launch, one of which is placed 35m from the reception, 1/3 more than the traditional ramps, in other words, it will fly high and wide!
Knowing the event and the site well, the very radical Belgian Julien Vanstippen will not fail to innovate as every year in terms of figures, alongside Vendéen Nicolas Texier, American Tyler Bereman, gold medalist at the last X-Games and German Luc Ackermann, both unreleased in Paris. Between Julien and Luc, there is double flip in the air!
A complete program
With the traditional Superpole SX1 that will open hostilities (which will be doubled, another novelty, by a Superpole SX2 a little later in the evening), each evening will see the SX1 and SX2 drivers compete in two Sprints and one Finals. Between the races there will of course be show, music, light games, everything that has made the Supercross’s reputation!
The doors of the Arena will open at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday 18 and at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday 19 to attend the tests and the SX Tour final, the show starting at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday and 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.
If there are no more tickets left for Saturday evening, you can still get tickets for Sundays on the website https://www.supercrossparis.com with a seat price ranging from €55 to €105.
List of Paris 2023 Supercross starters (as of October 17)
CATEGORY SX1
#2 Cooper WEBB (USA – Yamaha Star Racing)
#6 Thomas RAMETTE (F – Yamaha GSM Dafy Michelin)
#18 Jett LAWRENCE (AUS – American Honda Red Bull)
#20 Grégory ARANDA (F – Yamaha GSM Dafy Michelin)
#46 Justin HILL (USA – Bud Racing Kawasaki)
#51 Justin BARCIA (USA – TLD Gas-Gas Red Bull Factory)
#12 Justin STARLING (USA – Honda FR25-Suttel)
#72 Lucas IMBERT (F – Yamaha New Bike)
#85 Cédric SOUBEYRAS (F – MM85 CBO Honda)
#94 Ken ROCZEN (GER – SUZUKI HEP Progressive)
#96 Hunter LAWRENCE (AUS – American Honda Red Bull)
#137 Adrien ESCOFFIER (F – Husqvarna CRC)
#727 Boris MAILLARD (F – Suzuki Johannes-Bikes)
(2 other pilots to be confirmed)
#589 Kiliann POLL (F – KTM) replacement
CATEGORY SX2 CHAMPIONSHIP SX TOUR
#11 Calvin FONVIELLE (F – KTM TMV)
#22 Mickaël LAMARQUE (F – KTM)
#81 Brian HSU (D – Fantic)
#141 Maxime DESPREY (F – Yamaha GSM Dafy Michelin)
#170 Yannis IRSUTI (F – Kawasaki)
#225 Charles LEFRANCOIS (F – Honda SR Motoblouz Ship to Cycle)
#236 Anthony GROSJEAN (F – Kawasaki)
#388 Andrea BONIFACIO (F – Husqvarna)
#420 Pierre LOZZI (F-Kawasaki)
#505 Dorian KOCH (F-KTM)
#751 Germain JAMET (F – Yamaha)
#965 Hugo MANZATO (F – Husqvarna)
# 773 Thomas DO (F – Stark Varg): to be confirmed
SX2 CATEGORY INTER
#1 Matt MOSS (AUS – Kawasaki Bud Racing)
#28 Tom VIALLE (F – KTM Red Bull Factory)
#30 Jo SHIMODA (USA – American Honda)
#43 Cullin PARK (USA – Honda SR Motoblouz Ship to Cycle)
#389 Jules PIETRE (F-Yamaha)
#401 Jace OWEN (USA – Yamaha GSM Dafy Michelin)
#335 Enzo POLIAS (F – KTM Milwaukee)
#945 Anthony BOURDON (F – Bud Racing Kawasaki)
+ 8 qualified drivers from the SX Tour list
CATEGORY FMX
TYLER BEREMAN (USA – Team Red Bull)
Julien VANSTIPPEN (Belgium – Team Monster Energy)
Luc ACKERMANN (Germany – Team Red Bull)
Nicolas TEXIER (France)
