Paris Supercross From The Cheap Seats

Our globetrotting American friend, Ed Subias, sent over this report from last weekend's Bercy Supercross to the Vital MX headquarters. In the past he's also traveled to the Red Bull X-Fighters at Slane Castle in Ireland, and Japan to check out their national series. We're not sure, but we think he may be a spy, or an international playboy. Anyway, we dug his take on the event, and hope you will, too.


Click the following link to see a gallery with the rest of Ed's photos from the 2007 Paris Supercross.Click any photo in the article for a larger version.

A man dressed up in Chad Reed replica Thor gear struggled with the pull-cord of a chainsaw in order to get it started. The cigarette in his mouth glowed hot before the saw roared to life and he thrust it skyward and gave it a few high-pitched revs. The Parisian crowd went wild with excitement.



Bercy Stadium

Nope, you're not seeing things. The exterior of Bercy Stadium is covered in grass.

This was outside the Bercy Palais Omnisports Complex two hours before the first night of the 25th annual Bercy Supercross even started, and my introduction to Euro-style Supercross.

I'd wanted to attend the Bercy Supercross for years and finally was able to do so this time around, and the following are my observations from the "cheap seats."

They do supercross in Paris a little different than we yanks do, that's for sure. First of all, if you can carry it into the arena, it is allowed. Multiple chainsaws (sans chains), extra gasoline in water bottles for the said chainsaws, cases of Kronenburg (euro beer), two-foot-long baguettes, and all kinds homemade contraptions to create noise were witnessed going into the event. After, of course, security checked your bags...oh wait a second, security didn't actually check bags or whatever was carried in. Crazy. Thankfully, the only thing that was not allowed was the smoking of cigarettes inside the venue, much to the delight of my much-worked-over lungs from hanging out in Paris a few days before the event . Those Frenchies love to smoke everywhere! The only smoking going on inside was gonna be that of four-stroke motors.



Chainsaws? No problem.

Gentlemen, start your chainsaws.

Another cool thing were the free programs (yes, you read that right) handed out to the crowd as they hunted for their seats. Also, placed randomly throughout the arena on top of seats were plastic pit board-sized replica rider number plates for the fans to cheer with.

The opening ceremonies for the Bercy Supercross were unlike I have ever witnessed before. Thankfully, there was nobody demonstrating how a goggle tear-off system works. Scantily dressed cheerleaders, smoke and spotlights, along with "Welcome to the Jungle" from Guns and Roses blaring from the speakers were all part of the sensory overload that kicked it off, as the announcer rattled off in French at about 200 miles per hour to hype up the already ecstatic crowd.

The French team appeared in the sky in a silver spaceship looking pod and were lowered to the ground as the crowd grew loud enough to drown out the overzealous sounds of the announcer. Team U.S.A. were driven into the arena in a Hummer along with cowboy-themed cheerleaders. Team Rest of the World riders Chad Reed and Grant Langston rode into the arena on street cruiser motorcycles with sunglasses on, while Steppenwolf's ' Born to be Wild" provided their theme music.



Jeremy McGrath

Jeremy McGrath makes his entrance.

It was also at this point at this point that the replica Chad Reed fan with chain saw decided to start up his saw to cheer on his favorite rider. One tug on the pull chord and it revved to life, unfortunately it caught fire and the crowd went crazy. Mr. Chainsaw was escorted out of the stands to properly extinguish his noise maker. Amazingly enough he was back in the stands along with his chainsaw ten minutes later!

That scene hasn't, and never will be duplicated at a U.S. Supercross!

After more cheerleading, smoke, fireworks and headspinning annoucing, the night's program started off with a Mini (85cc) race which was dominated by Max Antsie, son of former G.P. Motocross rider Mervyn Antsie.



Mat Rebeaud

Mat Rebeaud.

Next came some Freestyle, well not just any freestyle, but the freestyle riding of Mat Rebeaud, Ronnie Renner, and Eigo Sato to just name a few. Simply amazing is all that can be said, the whole book of freestyle tricks were executed by the riders and the just when I thought the crowd could not get any louder that it previously had, it roared up another notch.

Now the stars came out to race. McGrath, Reed, Langston, Short, Pourcel, Grant, Brayton, Sorby, Aubin, and Roy were all in the mix.



Grant Langston and friends

Grant Langston leading the pack.

The track was in-between a full-size SX track and an Arenacross layout, so obviously good starts mean quite a bit.

I won't bore you with the blow-by-blow account of the night's racing, I'll just mention that Chad Reed was clearly a notch above the rest of the field and pretty much destroyed any rider in his path. Reed looks primed and ready for the start of the U.S. Supercross season.

Grant Langston and Andrew Short looked mighty impressive, and diced with Reed on many occasions but Reed was just faster. Langston and Short will for sure be vying for podium spots come Anaheim 1. What about McGrath? Well, the " King of Supercross" definitely still has skills but the hyperactive pace got the best of him and didn't figure into the final results. Mike Brown came on to relieve him for nights two and three.

There were also two types of main events each night. A regular style "Main," where riders qualified to get into, and a "elimination' style event where competitors raced for a few short laps until the slower guys were weeded out until eventually you got a head-to-head battle between the two fastest racers. This type of racing made for very exciting block passes and do-or-die maneuvers. The first night's match up featured Reed and Langston as the two put on a clinic on how to ' go fast.' In the end, Reed outpaced Langston for the win and the fans were happy due to seeing the fastest riders out on the track for more laps than usual.



Chad Reed

The 2007 King of Bercy, Chad Reed. Whoa...checkers are back?

As the racing was going on, the cheers from the crowd, the screaming from the crazy announcer, the airhorns and chainsaws would at times drown out the loud four-stroke booms coming from the track. Amazing.

Chad Reed again outclassed the rest of field to take the main event win for the first night, He would go on to take the "King of Bercy" title after two more nights of incredible racing in Bercy.

In short, The Bercy Supercross is a race that has to be witnessed in person to understand it better. I am glad I did.

The Bercy Supercross proclaimed itself as, "100% racing, 100% freestyle, 200% entertainment."

I won't argue with that 1%.

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