250 Words: History of Paris Supercross

Main image: Rick Johnson and Jean-Michael Bayle, photo by MotoVerte

The Paris Supercross is the longest-running overseas supercross event in the history of the sport, as this weekend’s race marks the 39th edition of the classic. So, in the event’s history, how many different riders have been crowned King of Paris? Who has the most King of Paris titles?

Related: 2022 Paris Supercross Entry Lists & TV Broadcast Times

The inaugural Paris Supercross event took place in March 1984, during the week on a Wednesday and Thursday in between the Daytona and Talladega rounds of the 1984 AMA/Wrangler Supercross Championship. Yup, the middle of the week in a championship! Reigning AMA Supercross Champion David Bailey took the King of Bercy—named after the location of the event—honors at the first ever event. It was such a success that the promoters ran a second event a few months later in December. This time, there was no competing AMA series running in the U.S., which brought back several of the top riders over the pond. It was newly crowned AMA Supercross Champion Johnny O’Mara taking the King of Bercy honors that time. Since then, the event has run basically once every year (except for the COVID-19 impacted year of 2020). The event even changed venues as it now takes place at the Paris La Défense Arena, which opened in 2017.

In 2021, Marvin Musquin claimed King of Paris honors for the third time (2016 and 2017 as well), becoming a tie for the second-most King of Paris honors with Justin Barcia (2010, 2013, and 2019). When Barcia won the event for a third time in 2019, he became the only rider to win the King of Paris honors with two different brands of motorcycles, as his first two wins came aboard a Honda, and his third win came aboard a Yamaha. All three of Musquin’s wins came aboard a Red Bull KTM. So, who has claimed the crown more? Long-time Yamaha rider David Vuillemin claimed the most King of Paris crowns, claiming four total in his home country (1999, 2000, 2001, and 2003). Since the first event in 1984, there have been a total of 25 different riders to claim King of Paris honors, with only nine total riders taking the crown at least twice.