The Paris Supercross always provides some interesting racing, whether it's bike debuts, debuts on different brands, or whatever, Paris is cool. I mean, it’s been running since 1984 (outside of COVID) and that’s pretty unique for a European Supercross. Three different locations, every all-timer (outside of Ryan Dungey) has set their tires on French soil and 2026 was no different.
The Honda HRC Progressive Australian brothers, Hunter and Jett Lawrence, were back to avenge their loss last year, 2024 champ Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb was back, Rockstar Husqvarna’s Malcolm Stewart came over, Tom Vialle was making his Honda HRC debut, there were privateer heroes Marshall Weltin and Mitchell Harrison also, along with the usual French stars like Cedric Soubeyras.
After qualifying I walked over to Stewart’s pits to catch up to Malcolm, and he was telling me about his brutal SMX injury. He did a lot of damage to his core muscles. He shouldn’t have tried to race St. Louis, but he did more damage there. He’s had a rough off-season and had only been on the bike six times at that point. I asked him about a couple of things I thought he and others might quad on the track. He was very pointed in telling me he’s in Paris to get some laps in and build a base, and he’s not out there to do too much as he just wasn’t ready. And besides, he and the other guys got together to make a pact about not going four-out in one of the rhythms.
He couched his readiness so much that in one of my 673 group texts where we were bench racing about Paris, I said 'Hey don’t expect too much from Mookie because of this reason and that.' Sounded brutal after all.
Uhhh yeah, sure Mookie. All he did was go 1-1-1-2-2-1 to easily walk to his first King of Paris win! He was amazing out there right from the drop. The whoops were very big, and they didn’t break down like other years here and we all know whoops are Stewart’s strength, right? I don’t know man, he mentioned that seeing the whoops put him in a good mood and he just felt good. I would say so, this was maybe the best I’d ever seen Stewart ride. He was that good. He caught, passed and dropped Webb a couple of times, he pulled away from Jett in Sunday’s third main, he won a Superpole- it was Malcolm Stewart’s world this weekend and we were all just living in it.
Oh, and he busted out the quad which he vowed no one was gonna do. Jett started doing it first and Malcolm said that meant he “had” to! He did tell me earlier that if anyone jumped the quad, it would be Jett.
When you add in his already great whoop speed (he and Jett were easily the two fastest in them), he did the quad, and then also he figured out this rhythm lane where he stayed tight going into the lane and then stayed tight coming out but going 2-3-4-1 (the main line was 3-3-4 but that sent you outside on landing), and you have the recipe to winning. Even though after our talk, I probably would’ve put him fourth on my list of winners.
The lesson to learn is to never, ever trust what riders say, by the way.
Jett Lawrence had a rough Saturday night. After qualifying quickest, he crashed in Superpole, the next time he was on the track he was the victim of Tom Vialle flying into him (by accident), and then he crashed in the final main and tweaked his bike! It might’ve been the most times he hit the deck in a night in his life! Sunday he was back to his old tricks in sweeping the first two mains, hitting the quad and looking typical Jett-ish, but in the last main he didn’t get the start he needed to and Stewart, who started behind Jett, was able to make the pass and pull away. Then a lapper got in the way of Jett trying to get Webb and Bob’s your uncle- just a third overall on the weekend for the wonder kid.
Paris SX means everything when you’re Malcolm Stewart and nothing if you’re Jett Lawrence. We’re a long way from Anaheim 1 but if you’re Stewart, you definitely take this with you on the bicycle rides and the track sessions. If you’re Jett, you shrug and forget about it.
His bother Hunter had a worse weekend as he crashed in the first turn of main one but worked his way to fourth. Third main he had a big one in the whoops where his footpeg went into his helmet and it could’ve been bad. He looked a little woozy to me and I didn’t think we’d see him Sunday but props to him, he went out there and cruised around. He told me after that he was getting paid to race and if he could, he would because that’s the job.
Unlike last year, the bothers were on stock engines in Paris. They brought a lot of other chassis parts with them, but motors were stock and you could tell on the starts they weren’t on the mark as usual. Probably still went past 76 percent throttle opening though.
I mentioned to Webb that I thought he had a “good” Paris and not a “great” one and he agreed with me. Some suspension changes after night one had him leading some laps on Sunday and he only finished off the podium once in six races so, like I said, he was good on his way to a second overall. The gaps from him to Stewart and to Jett were probably too big for his liking but again, he was there to get some laps in and nothing like racing for that. In our post-race podcast, he gets into detail on why racing is better than practicing for him at this point. As usual, Webb is DGAF in interviews about his thoughts, which is always good.
Also, in a huge clutch move I was waiting for his mechanic Alex to finish his post-race prep Saturday so that we could get a burger together (the promoters hire this burger truck to park at the hotel because after the main event, all the restaurants are closed) and I would never leave a fellow mechanic behind after a race.
Except, yeah, Alex was taking too long, and I left him behind to get a burger before they closed the truck. Sorry, not sorry. When I got to the hotel there were a lot of people waiting to get their food but Mariah, Webb’s wife, told me that Coop had already ordered and paid for a burger for me! What a guy! BLU CRU teammates always look out for each other. So that was clutch move and made it so I didn’t have to wait long like those other suckers. Also, Alex’s wife had ordered him a burger also so don’t worry, he was taken care of.
Cooper Webb- not all heroes wear capes.
As far as Tom Vialle, he was, to me, just okay. His mistake the first main of the weekend was whatever. Shit gets crazy on a tight track with a big 450, so it’s not that. It’s just after that, he was pretty far back of the main guys. Look, SX isn’t his thing (despite two 250SX titles), he told me he didn’t have a lot of time on the Honda on SX before this race, and his main goal is outdoor MXGP now, so this result doesn’t really matter all that much. But he didn’t show anything to make any USA team manager think they missed the boat on getting him as a full-time 450SX rider.
He told me after the race that if he wins a 450 MXGP title and it works out, he would come back to the USA. But for now, he’s focused on MXGP for the HRC guys. He also mentioned that he will miss the weather in the USA but will not miss the food, which he and many Europeans have told me.
Soubeyras is always a pain in the ass for the American riders at this race and he was that way again this year. Yes, he was helped by Vialle’s terrible first race but the “new” French star beat the “old” French star by one spot in the other five main events, which was probably closer than Vialle would’ve liked right? Anyway, Soubeyras was on a Honda at this event, which I think is the first time he’s been on red. The dude's raced a Husqvarna, KTM two-stroke, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and Yamaha as far as I know in Paris or in the USA.
Mitchell Harrison was there on a BUD Kawasaki and although Saturday saw him fall a couple of times, Sunday was much better. Yes, shit happened out there to help him but he did get fifth in one main which is pretty good. There are some privateers out there that play the “woe is me” card, talk about who doesn’t do what for them, how they’re getting screwed over, etc. In some cases they’re right but in the majority of cases, they just expect more than what they deserve. And this is coming from me, a guy that wrenched for privateers for years and also has raised a bunch of money for them as well. But I’m just being real here.
For example, Harrison had a nice season for the PRMX guys indoors and out. Heck, he was the star of the “Prado Pod” most episodes as we talked about Harrison racing a Kawasaki. But for Mitchell, he secured himself a ride on a CDR Yamaha for Aussie SX (teammates with Nicoletti, and we’re sorry about that Mitchell), so different country, different brand. Then he lines up a ride with a German Kawi team to race that series, then comes straight from there to Paris to race a BUD Kawasaki. Three different bikes, different suspension settings, motor settings, bars, etc. You want to talk about your “setup” that’s still giving you an issue three months into SX season? Well Harrison had to get used to pretty much everything the day of the race!
Sometimes, you just gotta want it.
Marshal Weltin is the same way. He told me he’s been home for five days since SMX because he’s been chasing these money races all over and doing well pretty at that. Sometimes, you gotta help yourself, you know?
Weltin got the last-minute call to replace an injured Jess Pettis so he packed up his stuff, changed his plans, and headed from Germany to France. Weltin said the whoops were pretty terrifying on Friday but by Sunday, he looked pretty good through them. He and Harrison pretty much battled all weekend long. Like everyone else, Weltin was stoked to cross racing the Paris SX off his bucket list.
Thanks for reading OBS, good to be back! You can email me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about this race or anything else. I’m off to Australia for the Aus-X Open and then the Gold Coast WSX round.
