In just one month, on November 18 and 19, the Paris Supercross will celebrate its 40th edition . Once again the capital will host the premier event of the winter calendar, and the fans were not mistaken since the evening of Saturday 18th will be sold out!
We suspected it, and it is confirmed day by day. The only Supercross of great international prestige outside the American continent, Paris always meets the same success, both among the drivers and among the spectators who will make the Paris la Défense Arena vibrate for two evenings!
Ernée’s revenge for the Lawrences?
Paris is preparing to properly welcome the Lawrence brothers, who have swept away everything in their path, winning no less than five US titles between them this season! Hunter the elder won in Supercross 250 on the East Coast as well as in 250 Motocross, while Jett won in Supercross 250 in the West before getting on his 450 Honda to win the Motocross title and then that of Supermotocross. Respectively aged 20 and 24, Jett and Hunter were also the architects of the second place recently won at the Motocross des Nations, which took place in Ernée (Mayenne) in front of more than 40,000 spectators.
For their first visit to Paris and for their first Supercross in 450, the two Australians will find Ken Roczen on their way, with whom Jett has battled regularly this season. Reigning King of Paris after his winning return last year, Ken has a revenge to take against Jett who beat him in Supermotocross (but it was Roczen who won the MXGP category at the Nations, despite the demonstration of Jettson during the final round) and the duel promises to be sumptuous because a real rivalry animates these two gifted pilots!
A Supercross worthy of the USA
Like every year since the return to Paris in the sumptuous setting of the Paris-La Défense Arena, the organizers and the JLFO team, led by the reference tracer Cédric Lucas, will build a track worthy of the US standard, notably equipped with a solid series of whoops and a sand section capable of making the finest technicians of the discipline make mistakes. This will be a first important test for the Lawrence brothers who have so far only competed in 250 US Supercross, while their main rivals have many seasons of experience in the premier category!
For example, in addition to Ken Roczen, Justin Barcia, who is recovering from his broken collarbone last month and intends to equal David Vuillemin’s King title record (four, compared to three for “Bam-Bam who won in 2010 , 2013 and 2019). And of course, obviously, double SX champion Cooper Webb, who will be returning to Yamaha Star Racing in his favorite discipline. Including Justin Hill, who will ride a Bud Racing Kawasaki, the Paris SX achieves the feat of fielding four of the top eight in the 2023 SX US and, better still, three of the four best in the new SMX series, including its big winner , Jett Lawrence, obviously! Faced with such adversity, the best French specialists will need noisy supporters, as was the case at the MX des Nations, to resist the invasion from America. Note also that with regard to the Nations classification, won alternately since its creation in 2002 by the USA or France, could return for the first time to the “Rest of the World” team, under the aegis of his Australian prodigies and his flying Japanese!
Tom Vialle, premiere in Paris!
The big novelty of the 2023 Paris SX is the overhaul of the 250 category. Paris will still be a stage of the French SX Tour SX2 championship but it will be run in a single final, contested in the pre-program, after the tests (again a good reason to arrive early at the stadium so as not to miss a single moment of the show!). But the best French chance to shine being in the 250 with Ernée’s hero, Tom Vialle, the organizers have decided to give the 250 category full international status!
Double Motocross World Champion (2020-2022), Tom will make his big debut in Paris after a season of learning SX in the USA. A few weeks after Ernée, the Southerner will discover the atmosphere that reigns in Paris when the Arena gets into supercross time! There is no doubt that he will receive a welcome worthy of the name for his first real SX in France, against his compatriots entered in the French championship but also against the Japanese Jo Shimoda, formidable at the end of the US season where he signed several victories and who will make his big debut under the Honda HRC colors, to the Americans Jace Owen (former Prince of Paris, entered by the GSM team) and Cullin Park (who will ride under the Honda SR banner), as well as the Australian Matt Moss (Kawasaki Bud Racing), reigning Prince of Paris. This year, in Paris, there will be two top-level international categories and not just one!
High-flying Freestyle
A precursor in terms of Freestyle shows, Paris sets the bar a little higher each year, and the 2023 edition should make an impression with no less than four ramps on which the pilots will launch, one of which placed 35m from the reception, i.e. 1/3 more than traditional ramps, which means that it will fly high and far!
Knowing the event and the site well, the very radical Belgian Julien Vanstippen will not fail to innovate as he does every year in terms of figures, alongside the Vendéen Nicolas Texier, the American Tyler Bereman, gold medalist at the last X-Games and the German Luc Ackermann, both unpublished in Paris. Between Julien and Luc, there is a double flip in the air!
A complete program
With the traditional SX1 Superpole which will open hostilities (which will be coupled, another new feature, with an SX2 Superpole a little later in the evening), each evening will see the SX1 and SX2 drivers compete in two Sprints and a Final. Between the races there will of course be shows, music, light shows, everything that has made Supercross famous!
The Arena doors will open at 2:00 p.m. Saturday 18 and 10:15 a.m. Sunday 19 to watch practice and the SX Tour Final, with the show starting at 7:00 p.m. Saturday and 2:00 p.m. Sunday.
If there are no more tickets left for Saturday evening, you can still get tickets for Sunday on the website https://www.supercrossparis.com with ticket prices ranging from €55 to €105.
List of Paris Supercross 2023 starters (as of October 17)
SX1 CATEGORY
#2 Cooper WEBB (USA – Yamaha Star Racing)
#6 Thomas RAMETTE (FRA – Yamaha GSM Dafy Michelin)
#10 Justin BRAYTON (USA – Honda France – SR Suttel)
#18 Jett LAWRENCE (AUS – American Honda Red Bull)
#20 Gregory ARANDA (FRA – Yamaha GSM Dafy Michelin)
#46 Justin HILL (USA – Bud Racing Kawasaki)
#12 Justin STARLING (USA – Honda FR25-Suttel)
#72 Lucas IMBERT (FRA – Yamaha New Bike)
#85 Cédric SOUBEYRAS (FRA – MM85 CBO Honda)
#94 Ken Roczen (GER – Suzuki HEP Progressive)
#96 Hunter LAWRENCE (AUS – American Honda Red Bull)
#137 Adrien ESCOFFIER (FRA – Husqvarna CRC)
#727 Boris MAILLARD (FRA – Suzuki Johannes-Bikes)
#848 Joan CROS (SPA – Seakings Kawasaki Euromoto85)
#911 Jordi TIXIER (FRA – Honda Nils)
#589 Killian POLL (F – KTM) remplaçant
#589 Kiliann POLL (F – KTM) replacement
SX2 CATEGORY SX TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
#11 Calvin FONVIELLE (FRA – KTM TMX)
#22 Mickaël LAMARQUE (FRA – KTM)
#42 Josh VARIZE (USA – Stark Varg) wild card
#81 Brian HSU (GER – Yamaha)
#141 Maxime DESPREY (FRA – Yamaha GSM Dafy Michelin)
#225 Charles LEFRANCOIS (FRA – Honda SR Motoblouz Ship to Cycle)
#236 Anthony GROSJEAN (FRA – Kawasaki)
#388 Andrea BONIFACIO (FRA – Husqvarna)
#420 Pierre LOZZI (FRA – Kawasaki)
#505 Dorian KOCH (FRA – KTM)
#751 Germain JAMET (FRA – Yamaha)
# 773 Thomas DO (FRA – Stark Varg) wild card
#938 Maxence MORA (FRA – Kawasaki)
#965 Hugo MANZATO (FRA – Husqvarna)
SX2 INTER CATEGORY
1 Matt MOSS (AUS – Kawasaki Bud Racing)
#28 Tom VIALLE (FRA – KTM Red Bull Factory)
#30 Jo SHIMODA (JAP – American Honda)
#43 Cullin PARK (USA – Honda SR Motoblouz Ship to Cycle)
#389 Jules PIETRE (FRA – Yamaha)
#401 Jace OWEN (USA – Yamaha GSM Dafy Michelin)
#335 Enzo POLIAS (FRA – KTM Milwaukee)
#945 Anthony BOURDON (FRA – Bud Racing Kawasaki)
+ 8 pilotes du SX Tour
FMX CATEGORY
TYLER BEREMAN (USA – Team Red Bull)
Julien VANSTIPPEN (Belgium – Team Monster Energy)
Luc ACKERMANN (Germany – Team Red Bull)
Nicolas TEXIER (France)
