The annual Paris Supercross has one night down, one more to go and if I had told you that neither Honda HRC rider Jett or Hunter Lawrence would be on the podium after three main events on the first night, would you have believed it?
After a wondrous 2024 SX and MX season for the Lawrences and having finished 1-2 at this race last year, the betting money would’ve been flowing in on either or both ending up in the top three overall but after night one, it’s going to be an uphill battle for either one to win the prestigious King of Paris title.
In reality, Jett did his thing in going 1-1 in two of the three main events but in the second one, while leading, he hit the rear wheel of a lapper and went down pretty hard. It was shocking for sure, the lapper (Adrian Malavel) checked up for just a second and Jett was heading to the outside when they collided. Jett’s bike was damaged too much to continue and he put up a DNF on the board.
Who took advantage of Jett’s trouble? Who else? Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb took the win in the main where Lawrence went down and went 3-1-2 on the night to win the overall on night one. It night look like Webb was handed this one, but he rode well all day long compared to last year when he was off the pace. In the first main event he actually caught Jett a bit near the three-quarter mark of the main before the #1 Honda rider pulled it out. This was much better than his performance last year, which was not up to par.
“I’m 100 percent happy, we’re in a good spot so far. Especially that last main (that was longer), you feel it as the laps go on” Webb told us after the race. “We’re not in the shape we need to be still but I’m a lot farther ahead than last year. I’m really happy to put up solid consistent finishes. Obviously Jett made that mistake but we were there to capitalize and put ourselves in a good position for tomorrow.”
Webb staying in the hunt and then capitalizing on a mistake? That’s how he does it, people.
Plus, he had speed every time he was out there. He was second fastest qualifier on the day (behind Frenchman Gregory Aranda!) and as we said, was solid all day long in his debut with Fly Racing gear.
Malcolm Stewart put his Rockstar Husqvarna to second overall on the night and led a lot of laps in the third and final main event. Stewart caught Webb in main two as well before coming up just short in the runner-up spot. His ride in the first main was impressive as well as he passed Webb, Dylan Ferrandis and Hunter Lawrence on his way to a second place.
Phoenix Honda’s Ferrandis got third overall via consistent 4-4-4 finishes. That makes him the top Frenchman in the 450 class.
Hunter Lawrence started strong in main one running second for a bit before getting slowly caught and passed by all his rivals. In the third main he didn’t get the start he wanted and took probably way too long (for him) to get by Aranda. Eventually he ended up fifth on the night and went 5-3-5 over the three mains.
Looking at Hunter Lawrence, he definitely didn’t look as comfortable in the whoops as some of the other riders. This is the Lawrence brothers’ first race in supercross with whoops on the new 2025 Honda CRF. Looks like there will be some testing to do for the Red Riders.
So Jett needs to make up nine points on Webb tomorrow which seems hard to do even if he goes 1-1-1 on the night. That DNF could prove to be costly for the Aussie but either way, the SX1 class should be great tomorrow.
SX2
Just like the SX1 class, there were upsets galore in the small bike class. Red Bull KTM’s Tom Vialle was the quickest rider in the practice sessions turning the table on Honda’s Jo Shimoda who beat him last year here. Really it looked like it would, like last year, break down to the Vialle/Shimoda show for the win.
Except mistakes by both riders left neither one of them on the podium at the end of the night! Vialle was checked out in main #1 when he got buck wild in the whoops and got sent into the net at the end of the section at a high rate of speed. He eventually got untangled and ended up 12th on the night while Shimoda won.
The next main event it was all Vialle again with the Jo Show taking an easy second. All Shimoda really had to do was ride around behind Vialle in the remaining four events and he would take the win. Well, in the third main event he was chasing Vialle (and catching him) when he lost his front end out of a left hand turn and rammed his knee into his handlebars. That took a while to recover but he eventually got up to end up…twelfth just like Vialle.
So, those crazy two main events left BUD Kawasaki’s Anthony Bourdon first overall at the end of the night with 3-4-2 scores. Bourdon, who raced in the USA last season and was pretty effective with Bar X Suzuki, is working with David Vuillemin for this race, and coming off racing a Yamaha 450 in Vancouver at WSX. He seemed as surprised as anyone to be walking away with the win!
KTM’s Calvin Fonvieille got good starts all three mains and finished up 2-3-6 for second overalls and Maxine Desprey went 4-5-4 for third overall. Vialle and Shimoda are tied for fourth overall just five points back of the lead.
