KTM’s Marvin Musquin delighted the Partisan French crowd by taking the win in the opening night of the Paris-Bercy Supercross at Lille. He took the start on the opening lap and rode hard and fast, maintaining a safe buffer over fellow AMA Supercross pro Justin Barcia who took a fine second place.
The crowd went wild as he took the chequered flag, pulled off a trademark heel clicker and was presented with his winner’s trophy by former world champ Jean-Michel Bayle.
Barcia took second after spending the first few laps passing second place Thomas Ramette who began to fade.
Barcia, out on his new JGR Suzuki, could not get close to Musquin especially towards the end of the race. He was close to being challenged by Honda’s Malcolm Stewart, but Bam Bam held him off as the top three gapped the rest of the field.
Barcia said: “It’s so good to have a bike that turns so well now! I couldn’t get close to Marvin towards the end of the race especially.”
Frenchman Cedric Soubeyras, who had battled for the heat race win with Barcia, moved up to fourth place while Honda’s Christian Craig came from outside the top ten on the opening lap to take fifth. Ramette was behind him, followed by Jordi Tixier and Cyrille Coulon.
Former world champ Romain Febvre crashed in first practice and was detuned all night. He was seeded through to the main as promoter’s choice and had a battle with Brit Tommy Searle for 11th. Febvre got the nod, as Searle – who had run near the front before an off-track excursion – took 12th. Searle was riding with an injured hand after Stewart rammed into him in practice. Then his main bike stopped with an engine problem in the heat and he had to go via the last-chance qualifier where he took second place.
In the SX2 final, the sole Briton was Jake Nicholls having his first ever supercross race as an adult. He qualified easily but in the main didn’t get a great start than ran off the track and crashed. He pulled out but said he’d learned so much from the experience. The racing continues on Sunday afternoon and again is on Motors TV live.
