As usual, it was a wild and crazy night here in Paris France for the 29th annual Paris-Bercy SX at the Palace de Omnisports. This race has seen everything and anything happen and for GEICO Honda’s Justin Barcia, that meant that he was affected by the Bercy chaos.
Barcia, last year’s champion, was the favorite going into the main event based on the fact that he ended up second in the Superpole contest and then proceeded to win all three of the elimination races in dominating fashion. Barcia looked right at home on the 450 and was easily handling his teammate Eli Tomac in every way.
It was a tough night for the defending champion on Friday.
Photo:Pascal Haudiquert
But that’s why they run the races and don’t award the trophy beforehand. As the gate dropped for the main event it was BUD Racing’s Gregory Aranda charging into the first turn in the lead when Motoconcept’s Mike Alessi slid a bit into him which sent Aranda standing up and caused a chain of commotion in the first turn. On the ground and out of it was Aranda and Barcia, who’s front wheel was missing enough spokes that it wouldn’t work anymore.
That was it, the first and second favorites on the night were out and Tomac, who was starting in the second row based on the elimination races results, snuck inside and took off into the lead.
The main event was fifteen laps and Tomac rode expertly for all 15 of them. The 250 class rider who impressed at the recent Monster Energy Cup race on the 450 saved his best for last and led every lap to take home the surprising win. It was a great ride and now sets up Tomac for the very prestigious King of Bercy title with Barcia and Aranda DNF’ing.
Tomac lead every lap on Friday en route to the overall.
Photo:Pascal Haudiquert
Kyle Chisholm, riding a privateer Yamaha was fast here last year and showed that he hadn’t lost the skill to ride the tight tracks. Chisholm ended up second in the main and at one point was catching Tomac. Chisholm seemed to make up his time in the whoops and got to within 2.4 seconds of Tomac but in the end had to settle for second.
Third place was Monster Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer who was the fastest man in practice but due to his early exit in the elimination races (he was second on the first lap in the first race when Barcia kicked a track marker in front of him and he went down) was also in the second row like Tomac. Weimer came through the pack passing Mike Alessi and Arnaud Tonus to grab the final spot on the box. All of the top three guys have the potential to be King of Bercy at the end of Sunday.
Mile Alessi ran second early on before settling for fourth and Nick Wey came from about tenth to end up fifth. The official results have Wey in tenth but that has to be some sort of mistake or I’m going crazy.
Chisholm was impressive on Friday, finishing second overall.
Photo:Pascal Haudiquert
Aranda did win 1,000 bucks for being the fastest man in the SuperPole contest to soothe his bad feelings about the main event.
There’s more racing tomorrow and Sunday and now Barcia and Aranda have nothing to lose so the racing should get real good.
Stay tuned here on Racer X for updates and follow the race on Twitter @racerxonline
Friday Overall
1- Eli Tomac Honda
2-Kyle Chisholm Suzuki
3- Jake Weimer Kawasaki
4- Mike Alessi Suzuki
5- Nick Wey Kawasaki
6- Arnaud Tonus Yamaha
7- Nicolas Aubin Honda
8- Christophe Martin Honda
9- Fabien Izoird Suzuki
10- Tommy Searle Kawasaki
11- Justin Barcia Honda
12- Gregory Aranda Kawasaki
