Lille met last weekend the main European Supercross event, and it was a great opportunity for Maxime Desprey to collect his first International success in the SX2 class on the 250 Bud Racing Kawasaki Monster Energy.
Moving from Paris Bercy to Lille as the stadium in Paris is under renovation, the Supercross moved North of France in the brand new ‘Pierre Mauroy stadium’ in Lille. Maxime Desprey winner of all the SX2 races for his come back on a Kawasaki was too strong for his rivals, and he dominates the SX2 class, winning the four races to collect the famous ‘Prince of Paris Lille’ title.
In the SX1 class the American riders dominate as usual, with four of them in the top five. Josh Hill (Bud racing) did the best overall performance with a fifth final position, posting top eight results in the four SX1 races. Christophe Pourcel (Bud racing) second of the first race on Saturday couldn’t repeat his good performance in the other races, with a crash as the start of the second heat and a couple of bad starts on Sunday.
Jordi Tixier (Monster Energy MX2 factory team) did his first race on a Kawasaki, and even if he missed Supercross experience and raced for the first time a 450 he posted a couple of strong results to come fourth overall of the event after three heat races. Unfortunately he missed the fourth and last race, probably the most exciting of the event as teammate Dylan Ferrandis did a great show. Very fast all weekend, Dylan had a couple of crashes during the previous races but had a good speed and came back in this last race from last to fourth, fighting for a podium result with Weston Peick in his second race on a 450 after the Monster Cup. He was the hero of the 22000 spectators, who made this event as successful as Paris Bercy was in the past.
Maxime Desprey: “We didn’t plane since so long to race this SX, but we prepare it carefully with Jacky (Vimond). I came here to have fun on the bike, and I must say that I enjoyed riding there! I had so much fun on the track, I feel so comfortable on the 250 Bud Kawasaki that I got four holeshots; I crashed at one start so I had to recover from last to first, it was so nice to hear the public cheering me! It was good experience, I rode relax and I know that I will have to work hard for next season; I will work with Jacky alongside Xavier (Boog) and Nico (Dercourt), and I’m confident.”
Dylan Ferrandis: “It was a pretty good weekend even if I came here just to enjoy the races, I had nothing to prove as I’ve not so much experience of the 450 and didn’t raced so many Supercross in my career. I posted good lap times, got some top three results, did a good first race with a fifth position, and ended the weekend with a great race. I crashed in two of the four heats, but the most important was to end the weekend with a great race; I missed my start but had a good feeling, and passed many riders to finish fourth overall, the public was crazy and it was really fun to fight with riders such as Stewart, Hill or Peick who have a lot of Supercross experience.”
Jordi Tixier: “It was a pretty good weekend, I was consistent during all the races with top six results. Unfortunately I couldn’t enter the last race to defend my fourth overall, the feeling was better along the weekend even if I had some pain in my foot as an American did a strong block pass on me on Saturday. I had fun riding the bike here, it was my main goal and it was so nice to do a race with my new team. Everything went well, now it’s time to go testing the 250 and prepare next season.”
Christophe Pourcel: “I had a good feeling during the practice session, and I got a second position in the first final event if my start was not so great. I wasn’t so happy as I finished far from the winner, but then at the start of the second race we collided at the start and later I had another crash and was lucky not to be injured. Then I didn’t felt so comfortable as two years ago I got seriously injured in Bercy; we didn’t had enough time to work on the starts with the team, and we have to find solutions as the starts are so important in SX.”
King of Paris Lille Supercross: 1.Tomac (USA), 4 pts ; 2.Barcia (USA), 15 ; 3.Stewart (USA), 16 ; 4.Izoird (FRA), 26 ; 5.Hill (USA, Kawasaki), 28 ; 6.Peick (USA), 28 ; 7.Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), 28 ; 8.Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), 29 ; 9.Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 35 ; 10.Soubeyras (FRA, Kawasaki), 35 ; etc….