In a few hours the Paris la Defense Arena will begin its transformation to become the home of the most prestigious European Supercross on November 18 and 19! While the riders are fine-tuning their final preparation in Europe or are travelling from the United States, the organizers are ready to start the track-building this Tuesday.
It’s just a few days now before this 40th edition of the Supercross de Paris and once again the Paris la Defense Arena will be the centre of the sporting world for a weekend which promises thrills galore! A host of top riders, an XL-size track, a unique FMX show… the tools are all there to make this anniversary memorable.
Will we celebrate a 27th King?
In the 39 editions to date the Paris Supercross has honoured twenty-six different ‘Kings’, from the American David Bailey, crowned in 1984, to Ken Roczen, the winner last year. Will Roczen follow in the footsteps of Johnny O’Mara, Jean Michel Bayle, David Vuillemin, Andrew Short and Marvin Musquin in successfully retaining the title? The German will be, as last year, one of the favourites but faces tough opposition, led by the Australians Jett and Hunter Lawrence and the Americans Cooper Webb and Justin Brayton, the latter replacing Justin Barcia who has not yet recovered sufficiently from a recent injury to compete. Their confrontation will be one of the highlights of this edition as Jett and Hunter will be making their debut in the 450 class on a genuine Supercross track while Cooper will compete in his first SX since signing with Yamaha. Facing this quintet will be Americans Justin Hill and Justin Starling as well as the French delegation led by Cédric Soubeyras, Greg Aranda (winner last weekend in Stuttgart), Jordi Tixier and Thomas Ramette.
A real Supercross track
Since its arrival in the Paris la Defense Arena, the Paris Supercross has found the space necessary to build a track that lives up to the reputation of the event. Once more this year, taking into account the quality of the rider-field, the organizers have designed a track which will allow the very best riders to make the difference. “We spent many mornings thinking about the track with Jean Luc Fouchet and Xavier Audouard, the Sporting Director of the event,” explains Cédric Lucas, who this year will again supervise the construction of the track. “Everyone has their eyes on Paris because it’s the biggest European Supercross, which welcomes top American riders, so we can’t cut corners on building the track. As last year we are going to build a big series of whoops, because there will be some great riders behind the start gate. » This Tuesday the Arena will begin its transformation, which will last 36 hours – construction of the track will be completed Thursday afternoon – and will require some 3500m3 of earth.
Two International categories
The SX1 category remains the top class in Supercross, but this year the SX2 class – which has always been a feature of Paris – now also boasts International status. The French SX Tour championship will be contested in the prologue of each evening, and then eight of the SX Tour riders will enter the international category alongside several transatlantic visitors. Amongst those will be Double World Champion Tom Vialle – 2020-2022 – making his big debut in Paris just a few weeks after winning the Motocross des Nations with the French team. He will be joined in the Arena by some of the riders he has raced against this season in the USA such as the Japanese Jo Shimoda or the Americans Cullin Park and Jace Owen. And Australian Matt Moss, crowned Prince of Paris last year, is back to defend his title!
High-flying Freestyle
the Freestyle show, always an essential element in a high-profile Supercross, also promises to live up to the high standards of this 40th anniversary edition, with an XXL ramp which will allow Belgian Julien Vanstippen, American Tyler Bereman, German Luc Ackermann and French Nicolas Texier to present new tricks during the two sessions scheduled each evening.
The Saturday evening show has already been sold out for many weeks but you can still find tickets for Sunday.
On Sunday the Arena doors will open at 10:45 am to watch the practice sessions, and then the show will start at 2.00 pm and end at 6.00 pm to allow everyone to travel home in the evening.
Tickets for Sunday are available on the website https://www.supercrossparis.com with seat prices from €55 to €105
The race will be broadcast live on www.MXGP-TV.com (for France and French language speaking, will be live on www.automoto-lachaine.fr)