French Week On RacerXOnline.com
If the United States of America is the recognized leader of the motocross world, then France must surely be riding shotgun. While Australia, Italy, South Africa, and others have produced several very fast riders, it’s the French who churn out future stars with the most consistency. Over the course of the last twenty-five or so years, our brothers-in-moto on the other side of the Atlantic have produced some extraordinary talent: Jean-Michel Bayle, Jacky Vimond, Mickael Pichon, David Vuillemin, Sebastien Tortelli, Stephane Roncada, Frederic Bolley, Yves Demaria, Mickael Maschio, Christophe Pourcel, Marvin Musquin, and many more.
Since 1984, the French have put their own cool twist on supercross with the annual super-party known as the Bercy Supercross—an event organized by the Editions Lariviere, which produces Moto Verte and MX Magazine—that helped raise the bar for supercross production and entertainment worldwide. Every top rider from Ricky Johnson and Johnny O'Mara to Chad Reed James Stewart has been crowned King of Bercy—for a teaser, followTHIS link.
This weekend will mark the 28th version of the event at Bercy's Omisport Palais, and many of the names above will be participating in the weekend's events. And next September, Team USA will travel to St. Jean d'Angely, France, in hopes of a seventh straight Motocross of Nations victory.
With all that in mind, we've decided to focus some extra coverage on motocross in France this week at Racer X Online—Le Racer X! We will look at some of the heroes of French motocross, some of the bigger races that have taken place there, past features and photos from the Racer X Archives, all leading up to Friday's opening night of the Bercy Supercross.
We’ll start right here with a list of all the past Kings of the Bercy Supercross, beginning in 1984, when they actually held two Bercy Supercross races:
The history of "King of Bercy" Supercross:
2009 - Justin Brayton
2008 - James Stewart
2007 - Chad Reed
2006 - Chris Pourcel
2005 - Andrew Short
2004 - Andrew Short
2003 - David Vuillemin
2002 - Grant Langston
2001 - David Vuillemin
DV had a three-year streak going from 1999 - 2001.
2000 - David Vuillemin
1999 - David Vuillemin
1998 - Larry Ward
1997 - Jeff Emig
1996 - Ryan Hughes
1995 - Jeremy McGrath
1994 - Mike LaRocco
1993 - Jeremy McGrath
1992 - Jeff Stanton
1991 - Jean-Michel Bayle
1990 - Jean-Michel Bayle
1989 - Rick Johnson
Late '80s rivals, Rick Johnson and JMB.
1988 - Jeff Ward
1987 - Rick Johnson
1986 - David Bailey
1985 - Johnny O'Mara
1984 - (Dec 4-5) Johnny O'Mara / (Mar 14-15) David Bailey
Over on our Facebook Page we're doing a French version of the "Old School Moto Photo of the Day" go ahead and check out what we've got up today: HERE
Read this: Two decades after Jean-Michel Bayle sparked a French renaissance in America, a new generation is making the same transatlantic journey. Read the full article which was featured in our March 2010 issue right HERE.
