Images by Christophe Desmet
Jace Owen recently announced he will ride for Phoenix Honda Racing in 2023 and a week later found himself in France for the Paris Supercross after just a few days back on the Honda. With the help of Florent Richier’s Team FR25 Honda program, Owen went after his second Prince of Paris crown in the SX2 class on Saturday and Sunday night. Owen would put solid results together finishing second four times from six races, but an untimely eighth place in the first main on Sunday put him in a deep hole for the crown. Still though, when Bud Racing 9mm Kawasaki’s Chris Blose went over the bars in the whoops during the final main event, Owen was suddenly leading not only the race but the overall standings as well. That is until Blose’s teammate Matt Moss snuck up and got around Owen for what was not only the final main event win, but the overall as well.
Owen was left to settle for second on the night but didn’t lament his lost opportunity as he was still happy with the experience. Afterwards, our own Steve Matthes caught up with him to hear all about it.
Racer X: Man, you said on the podium you didn’t know that was for the overall. Blose had a big one behind you. I was wondering a little bit because you kind of didn’t fight for it as much as you should. That sucks! Could have taken the overall.
Jace Owen: Yeah, you’re exactly right. I felt like I left a little something on the table. That’s why I didn’t give up definitely, but with Matt going 1-1 in the first two and me getting tangled with Chris and going 8-2, I wasn’t in contention for that. I honestly didn’t even know that if I had beaten him in the last race that I would have been the Prince. I didn’t know that Chris went down either, so that’s why you just keep chugging along, right? But it’s a lesson learned, and we’ll keep pushing.
Well it’s not like you haven’t won before here, right? You’ve been Prince before?
Yeah.
So it’s not like you don’t have one!
Yeah, yeah, so I did win in 2018 and now I’ve been runner up a couple of times. So, I don’t know. First feels a lot better than second.
Yeah, I think his team let him know because when he crossed the line, he was pretty happy. So, I don’t know if the mechanics signaled him or whatever. He seemed to know that Chris went down and that this was for the Prince. He was into it.
Yeah, he was definitely stoked, and he was pumped on the podium so that stung a little bit up there too seeing a guy jumping up and down and I’ve just got my head down. But it was good racing. I had about a week on the Honda before we came over here. So, I’m excited to be back on the Honda. I think now with the race environment, I wasn’t able to test or anything, but I did bring my suspension over. I think we’ll be able to make some changes and get a little bit better. As the track deteriorated, I kind of struggled a little bit. I got tight in that last main as well a little bit. And also, no excuses, but I was on a bone stock 250 here. That makes it tough. That’s why I felt like, my starts are always a strong point for me, but I started second in that last one and before that my starts weren’t up to par.
Literally all three mains last night (Saturday) were like the same carbon copy. You start like sixth, Blose gets up front, and you get to like second and Blose wins. It was like the same race three times.
Right, exactly! Time after time. That was a little bit frustrating, and I felt like if I just got in that position then I could win. I at least wanted to win a main event, but we didn’t. All we can do is get back to work and come back next year and try to be the Prince again.
You’ve been here before. This track was gnarly. This was one of the tougher ones, right?
Yeah, I would say definitely this is one of the tougher ones. Like some of the triples out of the corners and then the rhythm sections. Even the supercross triple was big. I had to be very precise on the bike, so it was like I couldn’t really over charge or under charge, I just had to make sure I just hit my marks lap after lap. The whoops were big too and you didn’t really have much of a run, so that was tough. Like I said man, I had fun. I love coming overseas and racing. We’re healthy, second both nights, second overall. We’re the first loser, but I had fun. I enjoyed it.
