The 41st Annual Paris Supercross took place last weekend. There have been so, so many European SX races to come and go over the years. But the one that started it all was Paris (or Bercy, as it was back in the day) and in 2024, it’s still going strong.
A great arena and a good-sized track makes this an ideal race to test out some settings, the amount of main events (three a night) is a good way to test fitness and it’s also, if you’re a top American rider to test your bank account. All in all, it’s a win/win in my eyes.
It took until his fifth try but Yamaha’s Cooper Webb finally brought home his first King of Paris crown with some very good riding. Coop was so much better than last year (when I admit that I was hitting the panic button as hard as I could when I saw his fitness/speed), and right from the very first practice when he hit the track, too. He went 3-1-2-2-2-3 on the weekend, and as he told us on the PulpMX Show a few days before he left, he’s in a good spot with his bike right now. He said after the race that they made a small fork change in Paris but that’s it. He’s in shape, he’s comfortable on his bike, and this is a good thing for Webb and the team.
BUT, and there’s always a but, even Webb admitted he wasn’t the best rider in Paris on the weekend. No, that honor would go to Honda’s Jett Lawrence who went, let me see here, 1-13-1-1-1-1. Yeah, in an Olympic scoring system it’s that 13 that’s the big problem. The Jett did all the things that Jett does. He looked smooth out there, got great starts, started doing some quad first that no one else did for a while and yeah, he looked very Jett-ish.
But he hit a lapper’s rear wheel and went down pretty hard (while leading ICYWW) in the second main event. His bike was too bent up to continue and that was it. He was unable to defend his win from last year. Jett’s comeback in SMX from his thumb injury was pretty remarkable, I didn’t have him winning those things so easily so I mean, why wouldn’t he be this good in Paris, right?
BUT, and there’s even more but’s, he and his brother Hunter did not look as good as they did last year. There’s no doubt about that. The social media video of Jett almost having a big one in the whoops on Friday press day is out there and Hunter didn’t look anywhere near as good as he did last year at any point. Heck, even Webb said (after admitting Jett was better than him) that he was closer to Jett than he thought he would be. And he’s right, he led half a main before Jett got him, and in another one he closely followed the kid the whole way.
In talking to Hunter, Darren Lawrence and the Honda guys it seemed the main culprit was time. As in, not enough time in SX on the new 2025 CRFs. Hunter said they took some time off after the MXoN and had five or six rides on the new bike and the stiffness in the chassis has been an issue to figure out. He also said he didn’t think he had the same bike at any point in the six main events, as the team kept making changes. Hunter told me they were making half-millimeter changes in fork height to see what that did and that’s insane to me.
As one Honda member told me, Jett’s just so damn good he can ride around being uncomfortable while Hunter cannot. But like I said, as good as Jett was, he wasn’t AS good as last year. So, there’s something there to the bikes not being quite where they want them to be. Yes, I’m sort of sounding an alarm about a guy that won five out of six mains in Paris, LOL.
Also, maybe this is just me but is anyone else worried about the time off the two brothers have and will continue to have? So, they took time off after the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations, rode the bike five or six times, now they’re going to Australia to race Thanksgiving weekend on stock bikes with some suspension (the factory ones were going back after Paris). So, then they get back in first week of December to start boot camp with, like, a month until Anaheim 1. With bikes that seem to be quite a bit different than their 2024’s. Seems a bit short, yeah? The KTM guys started their prep last week, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing guys are into it, etc., etc. I’m not saying this isn’t enough time but I’m also NOT not saying it, you know?
What I DO know is that Honda SX test rider Trey Canard is gonna be REALLY busy the next couple of weeks working through things to get the bikes to where the brothers are comfy on them.
Malcolm Stewart showed up back in Paris for the first time in a few years and he looked good also. He led a main briefly, he set fast qualifying times, and he looked really good in the whoops. Which, I mean, it’s Malcolm Stewart, he should look good in the whoops. But since the switch to Husqvarna, he hasn’t been as Mookie-ish as we’re all used to seeing. Malcolm and Webb had a great battle in the last main event on Sunday, which was awesome to watch, and fitness-wise, I thought he seemed to be one of the stronger guys at the end of each main. Stewart was happy with his weekend and man, I love his attitude the last couple of years whenever I’ve talked to him. He’s a very positive dude even when things aren’t going well. We need more people like Malcolm Stewart in the sport.
Also, on Friday after practice he was over in the Milwaukee tools display trying to get some drills and stuff for free. One of the guys working there looked to have a Stewart jersey on even! And he was posing for photos and signing stuff also. It was great to see but alas, Mookie left with no new tools. But for his second overall on the weekend, he got not one, but two drills from the Milwaukee guys. You should’ve seen his face on the podium when they walked those over to him. I’ve almost never seen anyone happier, other than when Weege uses a coupon.
I touched on Hunter Lawrence up top but yeah, not a great weekend for him, but he’s not worried at all about his results. The very first main event of the weekend he started right behind his brother and like last year, I expected “it” to be on. But then he just went backward from there. It was odd for sure, and it was a preview of the rest of the weekend for Hunter. He was just okay. But as I said above, there are reasons for this.
Dylan Ferrandis had a nasty looking start straight crash in the final main event of the weekend that knocked him out of the race. Afterward he was happy with the way he rode, said his bike was good, and I agree, he looked “racier” out there than he was in the USA this past summer. So, while on paper it wasn’t an awesome weekend for Ferrandis, he was right in the mix most of the time. He just needed some better starts. He also mentioned he’s riding at the Sandbox this year, as it’s easier to do testing with Factory Connection and it’s closer to his house. He had been riding at the Lawrence’s the last few years.
In the 250’s, last year at this race Honda’s Jo Shimoda debuted his new Honda and also was pretty much better than KTM’s Tom Vialle every time they took to the track. Those two were the class of the field every time out and not much was different this year, except Vialle was better than Shimoda every time they took to the track. He was a much-improved version of last year and let’s face it, in 2024 in American supercross, Tom raised his game while Shimoda was more of the same, so maybe this was to be expected?
Both guys made things WAY more interesting than it should’ve been when Vialle got bucked in the whoops and got sent into the net (those things are life savers, what an idea by someone!) while Shimoda crashed out in another main. It was crazy and left both of them needing almost perfect Sunday mains to win the whole thing. And Vialle pretty much did so in winning two of the three mains easily while Shimoda had a bike issue, which was severe enough for the Honda guys to swap a motor. In the end, Vialle tied Anthony Bourdon for the Prince of Paris title but got it because he won four mains to Bourdon’s none.
Paris is always a great time. Thanks for reading this column and email me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about this or anything else.
