Paris Supercross prepares for an epic 40th Anniversary celebration!

In just one month’s time, on November 18th and 19th, the Paris Supercross will celebrate its 40th edition. Once again, the capital will host the queen event of the winter calendar, and the fans are also convinced, as the evening of Saturday 18th will be played out in front of a sold-out crowd!

Words & Images: Paris Supercross (except where credited)

The only Supercross of great international prestige outside of the American continent, Paris is still seeing the same success, both on the side of the riders and that of the spectators who will make the Paris La Défense Arena buzz for two evenings of awesome entertainment!

The Paris Supercross reaches its 40th birthday in mid-November!

Post-Ernée revenge for the Lawrences?

Paris is preparing to welcome the Lawrence brothers, who have swept everything in their path in 2023, winning no less than five US titles between them this season! Hunter, the elder of the two, won the 250 Supercross on the East Coast as well as the 250 Motocross, while Jett won the 250 Supercross in the West before riding his 450 Honda to win the Motocross and then SuperMotocross titles. Jett and Hunter, aged 20 and 24 respectively, were also the architects of Australia’s recent second place at the Motocross des Nations, which was held at Ernée in front of more than 100,000 spectators.

Jett Lawrence continues his 450 Supercross prep with an outing in Paris (Image: HRC Honda)

For their first visit to Paris and for their first Supercross in the 450 class, the two Australians will be joined by Ken Roczen, with whom Jett has battled regularly this season. Reigning King of Paris after his winning comeback last year, Ken has a revenge to take against Jett who beat him in SMX (although it was Roczen who won the MXGP class at the Nations, despite Jettson’s display in the final moto) and the duel promises to be sumptuous because a real rivalry animates these two gifted pilots!

A Supercross worthy of the USA

As with every year since the return to Paris in the sumptuous setting of the Paris-La Défense Arena, the organisers and the JLFO team, led by top track builder Cédric Lucas, will construct a circuit worthy of AMA standard, equipped with a solid series of whoops and a sand section capable of drawing mistakes from the most astute technicians of the discipline. This will be the first major test for the Lawrence brothers who have only competed in the 250 US Supercross class so far, while their main rivals have many seasons of experience in the premier class!

Can Kenny defend his title from those pesky Lawrence brothers?

For example, in addition to Ken Roczen, Justin Barcia, who is recovering from his broken collarbone sustained last month and is aiming to equal David Vuillemin’s record of King of Paris titles (four, compared to three for “Bam-Bam” who won in 2010, 2013 and 2019). And of course, two-time SX champion Cooper Webb, who will be making his return to Yamaha Star Racing in his favourite discipline.  Also with Justin Hill, who will ride a Bud Racing Kawasaki, the Paris SX has achieved the feat of lining up four of the top eight of the 2023 AMA Supercross standings and, even better, three of the four best of the new SMX series, including its big winner, Jett Lawrence of course!

In the face of 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. It should also be noted that as far as the ranking by Nations is concerned, 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 leadership of its Australian prodigies and its flying Japanese!

Tom Vialle makes his Paris debut!

The big news of the Paris SX 2023 is the redesign of the 250 class. Paris will still be a stage of the French SX Tour SX2 championship but it will be run in a single final, contested in pre-program, after the practice (another good reason to arrive early at the stadium so as not to miss any part of the show!). But the best French chance to shine is in the 250 class with the hero of Ernée, Tom Vialle, as the organizers decided to give the 250 category an international status in its own right!

Tom Vialle looks for more success on French soil (Image: Red Bull KTM Factory Racing/Ray Archer)

Two-time MX2 World Champion (2020 & ’22), Tom will make his debut in Paris after a season learning SX in the USA. A few weeks after Ernée, the Southerner will discover the atmosphere that reigns in Paris when the Arena gets to Supercross time! No doubt he will receive a rapturous welcome for his first real SX in France, against his compatriots engaged in the French Championship but also against Japanese star Jo Shimoda, formidable at the end of the US season where he took several victories and who will make his debut in the colours of Honda HRC. Also lingin up are 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), the reigning Prince of Paris. This year, in Paris, there will be two top-level international categories and not just one!

High-flying Freestyle

A pioneer in terms of Freestyle shows, Paris sets the bar a little higher every year, and the 2023 edition should make an impression with no less than four ramps on which the pilots will start, one of which is placed 35m from the landing, which is a third more than traditional ramps, so they will fly high and far!

The Paris freestyle show is always breath-taking!

Knowing the event and the venue well, the radical Belgian Julien Vanstippen will not fail to innovate as he does every year in terms of tricks, alongside Nicolas Texier from Vendée, Tyler Bereman from the United States, gold medallist at the last X-Games and Luc Ackermann from Germany, both of whom have never been seen before in Paris. Between Julien and Luc, there’s a sure-fire double flip in the making!

A complete program

With the traditional SX1 Superpole opening the competition (which will be doubled by an SX2 Superpole later in the evening), each evening will see the SX1 and SX2 riders compete in two Sprints and one Final. Between the races, there will of course be a show, music, light shows, everything that has made the reputation of Supercross!

The doors to the Arena will open at 14:00 on Saturday the 18th and 10:15am on Sunday the 19th to attend the SX Tour practice and final, with the show starting at 19:00 on Saturday and 14:00 on Sunday.

If there are no more tickets for Saturday evening, you can still get tickets for Sundays on the https://www.supercrossparis.com website with ticket prices ranging from €55 to €105.

Entry List for Supercross de Paris 2023 (as of 18th of October)

SX1
#2 – Cooper WEBB (USA – Yamaha Star Racing)
#6 – Thomas RAMETTE (F – Yamaha GSM Dafy Michelin)
#12 – Justin STARLING (USA – Honda FR25-Suttel)
#18 – Jett LAWRENCE (AUS – American Honda Red Bull)
#20 – Grégory ARANDA (F – Yamaha GSM Dafy Michelin)
#46 – Justin HILL (USA – Bud Racing Kawasaki)
#51 – Justin BARCIA (USA – TLD Gas-Gas Red Bull Factory)
#72 – Lucas IMBERT (F – Yamaha New Bike)
#85 – Cédric SOUBEYRAS (F – MM85 CBO Honda)
#94 – Ken ROCZEN (GER – SUZUKI HEP Progressive)
#96 – Hunter LAWRENCE (AUS – American Honda Red Bull)
#137 – Adrien ESCOFFIER (F – Husqvarna CRC)
#727 – Boris MAILLARD (F – Suzuki Johannes-Bikes)

(2 more riders TBC)

#589 Kiliann POLL (F – KTM) RESERVE

SX2 French Championship
#11 – Calvin FONVIELLE (F – KTM TMV)
#22 – Mickaël LAMARQUE (F – KTM)
#81 – Brian HSU (D – Fantic)
#141 – Maxime DESPREY (F – Yamaha GSM Dafy Michelin)
#170 – Yannis IRSUTI (F – Kawasaki)
#225 – Charles LEFRANCOIS (F – Honda SR Motoblouz Ship to Cycle)
#236 – Anthony GROSJEAN (F – Kawasaki)
#388 – Andrea BONIFACIO (F – Husqvarna)
#420 – Pierre LOZZI (F-Kawasaki)
#505 – Dorian KOCH (F-KTM)
#751 – Germain JAMET (F – Yamaha)
#965 – Hugo MANZATO (F – Husqvarna)
# 773 – Thomas DO (F – Stark Varg) (TBC)

SX2 International
#1 – Matt MOSS (AUS – Kawasaki Bud Racing)
#28 – Tom VIALLE (F – KTM Red Bull Factory)
#30 – Jo SHIMODA (USA – American Honda)
#43 – Cullin PARK (USA – Honda SR Motoblouz Ship to Cycle)
#335 – Enzo POLIAS (F – KTM Milwaukee)
#389 – Jules PIETRE (F-Yamaha)
#401 – Jace OWEN (USA – Yamaha GSM Dafy Michelin)
#945 – Anthony BOURDON (F – Bud Racing Kawasaki)

+ 8 qualified riders from the SX Tour Preliminaries

FMX Stars
TYLER BEREMAN (USA – Team Red Bull)
Julien VANSTIPPEN (Belgique – Team Monster Energy)
Luc ACKERMANN (Germany – Team Red Bull)
Nicolas TEXIER (France)