Today, however, it was kind of slow, as November 11 is Veterans Day all over much of the world, and that tradition started right here. World War I ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, not far from here, as a ceasefire was called between Germany and the Allied Forces of France, Great Britain, the U.S., Australia, and more. Today, here in Paris, they celebrated and remembered with a big ceremony at the base of the Arc de Triomphe, which was really cool for Sabrina and me to see—she’s got almost as much history geek in here as I do. (Yes, we’re here for supercross, but it’s also part-honeymoon. She got two days of seeing all of the big museums and Notre Dame, currently being rebuilt, and les Catacombes and all, but now I get two days of racing.)

2022 Paris Supercross Broadcast Schedule

Before we get too much more into this race with Matthes down below, I want to hand it off to Jason Weigandt to talk about the loss of a close friend, and a wonderful man the entire motorsports racing world is going to miss, Coy Gibbs.

Goodbye to Coy (Jason Weigandt)

The motocross community was rocked this week by the sudden loss of Coy Gibbs, who passed in his sleep on Sunday morning while in Phoenix for the NASCAR season finale. Coy was the founder of the Joe Gibbs Racing MX team, but that team shuttered two years ago, and the Gibbs family will always be primarily associated with football and car racing more than dirt bikes. You might wonder why Coy's passing seems like such a big deal, then. It's because of Coy himself. His dad, Coach Joe Gibbs, always says that you "win with people." When Coy decided to build a motocross team, he focused on the personalities first, starting with team manager Jeremy Albrecht. The staff they assembled was built in Coy's mold: competitive, but man did they know how to have fun. Coy would ball-bust anyone, anytime, and he loved when you gave it back. I really feel like part of Coy's reason to even start the team was to have a group of guys to travel and hang out with. I envision it kind of like the feel of a football locker room.

Consider some of the riders the team employed. One year I got to hang with them during a sponsor visit to AutoTrader.com. The riders there that day included Phil Nicoletti, Justin Bogle, Weston Peick, Justin Hill, and Malcolm Stewart. I mean, this was an all-time group of moto personalities—some rapping, some playing guitar, some laughing, some laughing at the laughing, and one grumpy guy complaining. It was exactly the type of group Coy loved. Never, ever a dull moment inside that JGR truck or shop. Kris Keefer talked about the nonstop trash talk with his buddies at the World Vets over the weekend. Coy Gibbs was a man of great resources and privilege, but he wanted that exact same experience: trash talking your buddies, just at a really, really high level.

My take? Coy knew he had been gifted by God a very special circumstance in life, being the son of an NFL and NASCAR Hall of Famer. He wanted to share his gift with everyone.

The JGR NASCAR folks invited a lot of his old motocross buddies to the shop this week to tell stories. It was great therapy. But sadly, this is about more than just losing a friend. Coy had already become the heir to the JGR NASCAR business after his brother JD passed in 2019. (JD was one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet, but much sweeter compared to Coy's nonstop trash-talking vibe.) Coy's son Ty had just endured a dramatic week, after ramming his own teammate out of a playoff spot in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Last weekend, Ty was the most hated driver in the sport, and the Gibbs family was taking a lot of that heat. Then, Ty goes out and wins the final race of the year to win the Xfinity title—in his rookie season, no less. It was a horrible week punctuated by an incredible high. Then, just hours later, Coy was dead. The timing of it all just boggles the mind. My thoughts are with the family, which now has to soldier on without both sons and dads, and leaders of the family business. Just ...wow.

We in the motocross world were lucky Coy shared his gifts with us. But right now, the real tragedy and sadness surrounds the Gibbs family. If there's anything any of us can do for them, we will do it. Godspeed, Coy Gibbs.

PARIS (Matthes)

Still can't believe that Coy is gone. Gonna be a while before I can wrap my head around not being able to text him ever again. Life does go on, and he'd be embarrassed by all this attention for sure. Sorry, Coy!

Like DC said, I'm also currently in Paris for the annual Paris SX. This race is a staple on the European calendar and is the premier race in the off-season. Last year saw more Europeans and only one night rebounding from COVID-19, but the promoters have made it up to us this year with a stacked field.

Eli Tomac, Marvin Musquin, Cooper Webb, Ken Roczen, and Justin Brayton will line up. With the departure of the Lawrence brothers due to visa issues, the promoters got Roczen and Brayton to jump in. This will be the first time for Roczen ever in Paris. Heck, they even got Chris "Zombie" Blose and Alex Ray over here! 

Should be a great race. In the past we've seen one or two racers kind of ride above everyone, and indeed, Tomac might do that. But if not, this thing is deep and should give us some great racing. The format has been tweaked a bit this year to give us a little less of the guys on the track but longer main events, so that will be interesting. I'm sure I'll be eating club sandwiches here at the hotel at some point and will try to find out what Roczen's gonna do next year as well, so stay tuned, and make sure you watch on MXGP-TV all weekend. 

Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)

Paris is one of my favorite cities on earth. I love the history at every turn, the laissez faire attitude, and the little streetside cafés begging me to pull up a chair. The Paris Supercross (Bercy in my racing days) is one of the best on the calendar. Not only is the level of professionalism and organization at an industry high, the budget always gave riders a reason to feel appreciated. The track is now one of the larger on the off-season calendar, and the dirt offers plenty of traction. What’s not to like, right? 

This weekend features a star-studded lineup and offers a bit of insight as to where some of the factory riders stand. How has Cooper Webb responded after a less-than-desired 2022 campaign? Is Ken Roczen any closer to 2023 team clarity? Can Eli Tomac continue his incredible winning streak? How will French favorite Marvin Musquin do on the back of his Red Bull Straight Rhythm win? Lots of questions to be answered. It’s also a great time for these riders to assess where they are in the journey to A1. Slow this weekend? Better work on those sprints. Struggling with the intensity and “blowing up?” Work on the cardio side and managing your heart rate. Settings holding you back and just not feeling comfortable? Schedule test sessions pronto.

Overall, this race is a great opportunity on many levels. Travel the world, make a lot of money, and have a pre-2023 trial run. Of course, the risk of injury will always be the downside of these events, but such is the life of a supercross racer. I say enjoy the moment and the opportunity. One day, these riders will look back and wish they could still do exactly what they’ll do this weekend. 

World Vet Weekend (Keefer)

Whew! What. A. Weekend. It's not every day that you get to house some Canadians for a weekend of racing, but the wife and I had Gauldy, Newf, and Pulp at the casa for a few days! The Dubya USA vet weekend at Glen Helen is always fun, and sometimes I wish we could record the whole weekend from the time they arrive to the time they leave. If you have a group of friends that you ride with, chances are there’s A TON of crap talking, and that is exactly what the Vet Weekend at the Keefer house is like. Between Matthes complaining about not having chairs for the bonfire, Gauldy telling me I’m a cautious vet rider, or Newf saying my parking spot sucks, it is a nonstop, fun-filled, trash-talking weekend!

Oh yeah, there was some racing to be had, and the crew at Dubya USA (John and Kristin Anderson) as well as Glen Helen Raceway provided all of us old racers a fun yet longer track to do battle on. What’s cool about the Dubya USA World Vets is all the camaraderie between the racers. Riders helping riders, lining the fences to root on their buddies is something I will always remember when it comes to this race. Having guys like Mike Brown and Jeremy McGrath broing down with your average weekend warrior is something special and only happens with a sport like motocross. If you haven't been to Glen Helen for the Dubya USA World Vets, make it something you mark on your calendar for 2023! 

WORLD VET (Matthes)

As Keefer said, another year and another Dubya USA World Vet race in the books. Look, I've been a tad critical of this race over the years—I've done it six or seven times, because there are a lot of people there, and it could be organized and run better. Well, it took a while, but props to the crew at Glen Helen—they made big improvements this year to the race and it went pretty well. They cut one moto out, they had corrals for staging, they had a 15-second board, they had time to groom the track, they didn't put a mish-mash of a race order together, and everything went pretty good. So props to those guys—I know they weren't happy with some of the stuff I said on last year’s PulpMX Show, and they listened, because it was all just common-sense stuff, in my opinion.

As to how it went for me, well, the news about Coy Gibbs threw a damper on Sunday’s race, but all in all, I left safe and sound. That's the main thing, right? I had a great time hanging out with the Keefers, the Newf, Gauldy, Fireman Dave, Janky Mike, Greg, and more. You'll have to stay tuned to an upcoming Racer X magazine feature for more info, but suffice to say, a Mr. ’Side is probably very sorry he tried to cyber-bully me for weeks before this race.

Hey, Watch It!

Travis Fant of Motocross Action put together this epic salute to Jeremy McGrath, who was given the Edison Dye Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dubya Vet World Motocross Championships at Glen Helen last weekend. The event, which was founded by Tom White, ran last weekend and McGrath, now 50, finished third in the Over-40 Pro class, behind only Mike Brown and Kris Keefer:

Our longtime friend and contributor Donovan Mitchell was the subject of this mini-documentary about spinal cord injuries for Wings for Life:

Anderson, Cianciarulo, Nichols, Wilson & More 2023 Supercross Testing | Racer X Films

FOX MX | MANUEL LETTENBICHLER | UNPLUGGED

Reed & Deano Unseen at Castillo Ranch