Tonight was night one of the Lille Supercross here in France, a nice little town about an hour and a half north of Paris. Generally for this race we’d be in Paris and more specifically the suburb of Bercy, but this year renovations to the regular stadium forced the promoters to move Bercy to Lille. Get it? Good.
Night one is in the books and so far this event is raining Eli Tomac over everyone else in the field. After setting the fastest time in practice, the GEICO Honda rider led every single lap of both main events, all three elimination races and oh yeah, he set the fastest time in the Superpole contest.
“I felt great, I had a couple of French rolls before the day started and I think it got me going,” joked Tomac to Racer X after his second main event win. “The start here is key, the track is tight and that’s important. I’m just in a really good flow, a flow that I remember I had on the 250F.”
Tomac dominated and was easily the star after the first night and it would be hard to pick someone else that really stood out. It seemed that every other rider has some issues. Christophe Pourcel, on the BUD Kawasaki rode great in the first main event to catch Malcolm Stewart from the back and snatch the runner-up position but Pourcel crashed out in the final elimination race and then crashed numerous times in the second main event. Justin Barcia and Weston Peick of the Toyota JGR Yamaha team both ended up on the ground a few times throughout the night. Peick had a nice second main event going until he crashed. Barcia crashed early in the second main event and then rode furiously to finish third in the second main event but as of press time there was some issues whether Barcia passed Stewart under the yellow.
BTOSports KTM Justin Brayton was fast in practice but crashed in the first main event and early in the elimination races. That would have seemingly done him in, but Brayton rebounded nicely for a great second place in the second main.
Josh Hill (riding with help from the BUD Kawi team) was consistent in both main events but probably not up as high as he would’ve hoped for. No, on this night there was only one star and he was wearing the red, white and blue Alpinestar gear riding the #3 GEICO Honda.
When asked if he had any close moments out there, Tomac said, “I cased that triple in that one rhythm and that was my one mistake all night. Lappers weren’t too bad really.”
Tomac started in the same gate all night long and clearly has the momentum on his side with one more day left. “We’re at a different place but it feels a lot like Bercy,” said Tomac, who has come close to winning the Bercy event before. “The dirt feels the same and I think if you start in the middle of the pack it wouldn’t be much fun. But that wasn’t me and I’m having a blast!” Tomac laughed.
Easy for him to laugh after the night he had but there’s no doubt that Eli was the only one really laughing after night one.
Results
Night One: Lille Supercross
1-Eli Tomac 1-1
2- Malcolm Stewart 3-4
3- Justin Barcia 8-3
4-Jordi Tixier 7-6
5-Josh Hill 6-7
6-Justin Brayton 13-2
7-Fabian Izoird 10-5
8-Christophe Pourcel 2-14
9-Cedric Soubeyras 9-8
10-Dylan Ferrandis 5-12
