Race Report: Paris-Bercy Saturday
Sunday, October 30, 2011 | 9:30 AM
Share
Comment
Email
PrintIt was night two at the 29th annual Paris-Bercy Supercross here in Paris, France and for as much calm as we had last night; we got fireworks and more tonight!
GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac grabbed an unlikely win last night with Kyle Chisholm second and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer in third.
The night started off with two heats to get into the main event and it was Weimer and GEICO’s Justin Barcia easily winning their heats and making it into the main event. Along the way all the top riders made it through, as well, setting the stage for a great show. But first up was a one-lap Superpole contest, as well as a series of elimination races, which determined the gate pick for the main event.
The Superpole was won again by Frenchman Gregory Aranda, and he once again collected the 1,000 Euro prize for being the fastest rider for one single lap.
The first elimination races went off with no issues as Suzuki’s Mike Alessi, who made some changes to his machine and looked much better today, won in a great ride. Weimer was second with Barcia taking home third.
The second elimination race was where the fireworks happened.
Justin Barcia and Gregory Aranda set off the fireworks at Bercy.
Photo: Pascal Haudiquert
The pack roared into the first turn with Alessi right there as well as Aranda just inside of him. Aranda grabbed too much throttle, slid out and then his Kawasaki KX450 hooked up and shot him from the outside to the inside of the track. The change in direction caused a chain reaction crash that took out Weimer and Barcia, which left Barcia fuming.
When the pack roared back into the stadium, Barcia and Weimer were just getting going and as Aranda came by Barcia, Justin rode Aranda to the outside of the berm. He then proceeded to show Aranda the finger that you usually use for bad drivers. That was it for the Parisian crowd, boos, paper and air horns came raining down on Barcia as he and Aranda continued their jawing in the mechanic’s area. At that point the two riders were separated and Aranda, in a show of his frustration laid down on the track hoping to draw a red flag and a restart. Eventually he was pulled off, but not before the pack had to avoid him—there was no red flag anywhere.
Barcia was not permitted to race the rest of the night and was fined 500 Euros for unsportsmanlike behavior. The fine was immediately suspended because Barcia showed remorse for his actions.
Meanwhile there was an actual race going on with Alessi grabbing the win once again in the second elimination race. This left a final four of Alessi, Nick Wey, Kyle Chisholm and Eli Tomac. Those four went at it in the final race with Wey grabbing the win when it was all said and done.
The final was now set minus Barcia, and when the gate dropped it was once again Mike Alessi who led early on. Alessi had made some bike changes all weekend and they seemed to agree with him as he took off with the lead. Right behind him was Chisholm and Weimer with Eli Tomac lurking and Nick Wey way back after a bad start.
Alessi struggled to an 8th place finish in the main.
Photo: Pascal Haudiquert
Chisholm hunted Alessi down and was applying heavy pressure to the 800 inside the tunnels of the arena. Eventually Chisholm forced a move on Mike and contact was made in those very tunnels. It was reminiscent of these two riders getting together last night and the collision tonight left Alessi trapped in the hay bales and out of the race. At the same time that this happened, Weimer got out of shape entering the beginning stages of the tunnel and he went down hard. That was it for Weimer, his helmet showing the damage of the crash. He was done.
The benefactors of these incidents was Aranda and Wey who went up into third and fourth respectively. Wey was riding strong as catching Aranda a little bit. In fact he would end up with the fastest time of the main event in his effort to catch third. It didn’t happen though, despite getting close, Wey ended up fourth in what was still a good ride.
Meanwhile, up front, Tomac was trying to get Chisholm. But in a repeat of what we saw last night, the roles revered. Tomac wasn’t able to do much with his deficit, and fifteen laps later Kyle Chisholm won his first ever Bercy SX main event with GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac in second.
So it’s a 1-2 for Tomac vs. Chisholm’s 2-1. In the Olympic style scoring they use, these two are tied at 3 with Wey in third with 9. Frenchman Cedric Soubeyras and Alessi are fourth and fifth. Last year’s King of Bercy, Justin Barcia, has failed to finish either main event this year in what has been a disastrous trip for the 2011 250 West SX champion.
Stay tuned here on Racer X for Sunday’s race report as well as on Twitter @racerxonline
Chisholm took the win on Saturday.
Photo: Pascal Haudiquert
1- Kyle Chisholm Yamaha
2-Eli Tomac Honda
3- Gregory Aranda Kawasaki
4- Nick Wey Kawasaki
5-Cedric Soubeyras Honda
6- Fabien Izoird Suzuki
7- Tommy Searle Kawasaki
8- Mike Alessi Suzuki
9-Cyrille Coulon Honda
10- Arnaud Tonus Yamaha
11- Jake Weimer Kawasaki
12- Chrsitophe Martin Honda
13- Khounsith Vongsana Honda
Share this article:
Did you like this article?
Check out THE COMEBACK KIDS
in our Latest issue of Racer X available now.
Absent from the supercross tour since 2008, the KTM Junior Supercross Challenge remains a favorite of fans nationwide. And now it’s back! Page 136.
Look for the verified symbol 
Impulse Studios
What you didn't mention clear enough is that although Aranda was causing Barcia and others to crash at the start it was by no means intentional.He had a bad gate pick, chose to take the far outside and tried to make the best of it. He simply grabbed too much throttle exiting turn 2 which made his rear step out and he unintentionally crossed the other riders way...anyway - what followed was that Barcia waited for him and simply parked him in a corner letting all other riders by.Aranda was sitting in 3rd and after that dead last...that was what caused the french audience go nuts as Barcias behaviour was unacceptable. Not a sportsmans behaviour and i guess they told him in the pits that he had to say "i'm sorry" to the public otherwise he better start packing his bags and going back home right away.Barcia lost many,many fans with his stupid behaviour over there.
Thumbs up to Alessi who showed great speed: 2nd fastest time in the timed one lap "race" and two easy wins in those qualifiers...but he seems to suffer sever armpump (or lack of physical conditioning) as he would fall off the pace afetr a couple of laps while leading in the main.
WOW thats crazy!!!! I'm an American, NYer, MXer, and watched Justin since he was on 65's, so I'm a fan. But this move sucks on so many levels so I must say
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and WTF Justin. This could be a great monday conversation
Way to go JB17. I am a bigger fan now. So glad he parked Aranda. Bercy is a show, not a race. Great show so far this year.
Barcia is a dooosh,,, how many times has he taken out other racers? it happens to him once and he throws a hissy fit.....
He is gonna have a long year because the rest of the AMA racers have had enough of him here...
Barcia showed what a total pu**y he is. When Aranda walked up to him after that move he rode to the pits. That was the fastest I´ve seen him ride the whole day.
One more night. Let's see if Tomac can pull it off. I'm not sure why anybody would be surprised by Barcia's move. It was that of a child.
too bad about Barcia being such a putz, I was just beginning to like him again.
@ nino, I pretty sure Alessi's falling off the pace has nothing to do with conditioning, that guy trains as hard as anyone.
I'll bet Mike was pissed after Chis' bumped him but you can't blame Chis', Alessi had been holding him up for several laps.
So its likely that Chislholm or Tomac will win the title, either way, a pretty cool surprise. I'm rooting for Tomac.
Tickled to death for Nick Wey & Kyle, good ride fellas. Could you imagine Stewart & Reed in this race? MMA would lose 50% of their viewers this weekend lmao.
LMAO @ Pauly!
They should have bounced both of them for the weekend. Accidents are one thing, but intentionally interfering with the results of a race? Nope, zero tolerance. Out.
Sunday Main Event
1. Justin Barcia (USA/Honda)
2. Jake Weimer (USA/Kawasaki)
3. Kyle Chisholm (USA/Yamaha)
4. Mike Alessi (USA/Suzuki)
5. Eli Tomac (USA/Honda)
2011 Overall
1. Kyle Chisholm (USA/Yamaha)
2. Eli Tomac (USA/Honda)
3. Jake Weimer (USA/Kawasaki)
huh, no ktm, no euros, no french ? in spite of everything, the reality always stronger than the lying ... and F__K YOU if you are not happy
Barcia is now my hero . Glad theres still more to it than just the ugly riding gear and a bunch of babys riding around following each other scared to bump or pass.
USA clean sweep at Bercy, and Aranda showed he doesnt have it after taking down half the racers.. Great job all the guys from the USA..
Nice job Justina. You're a real tough guy. Run a guy off the track and run and hide. That was just ridiculous. Hopefully this guy comes over here for the supercross series and runs you a$$ off the track every chance he gets.
@fakeeuromike heres a hankie you poor thing. I can smell your fake euro frustration...... .@prime he is welcome to come and sign up like anyone else and if he can run JB's a** of the track more power to him....i'm not gonna hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
People are really booing barcia for this shit, It is called emotion when you are passionate about something, your emotions come out. Obviously he was upset, he shouldn't have waited for him he should of just got back on his bike and caught up to him and parked his ass in the cheap seats. If you don't want to see contact or rough riding freaken watch tennis, this is motocross.
Double standard people set on these forums, I like how windham parked Friese in Vegas none said anything but barcia parks some frenchie and gives him the bird people are distraught. Give the kid a break and remove yourself from your mothers nipples.
@euromike....If all Europeans hate SX then why was Bercy sold out all three nights? I cant wait to at
tend that show one day. The French fans know how to party!
Can u imagine what would have happened had Pourcel pulled what Barcia did at A1. He would have been fu#$%ng deported. At least the frenchies got over it for Sunday. No offence but us Yanks would have holded a grudge for decades. I dont give a sh&t where you are from........if u can rip it up on a MX bike, you have my respect!
I'd whip him off too. Aranda takes people out and then laid down on the track to draw a red flag. Come on... They are lucky Bam Bam didn't try to knock him out.