The 40th edition of the Supercross of Paris wrote a whole new page in the history books as Jett Lawrence and Jo Shimoda became the new King and Prince of Paris respectively after two nights full of racing and battles on their first attempt at the event.
Jett Lawrence is now the 27th King of Paris and the second from Australia since Chad Reed’s win in 2007. Meanwhile, Jo Shimoda has become the first-ever Japanese rider to clinch a title in this event, as he won the Prince of Paris honors. Both riders from Honda HRC had different nights en route to take the titles.
At the same time, this is the first time since 1993 Jeremy McGrath and Mickael Pichon that Honda took both titles the King and Prince on the same night.
Jett was unstoppable on the first night of racing as he topped every single session of the day, from free practice to the final race. However, on Sunday night he struggled a little bit due to regular starts. This opens the door for Hunter Lawrence and Ken Roczen to win Sprint Races 1 and 2 respectively. But then in race three Jett came back to the top to secure the King of Paris title.
Jett´s brother Hunter Lawrence made an impressive 450 debut finishing second overall both nights. The older brother led laps and fought very hard against Jett and Roczen, and finally in Sunday´s Sprint Race 1 he managed a win.
Meanwhile, Cooper Webb took the bronze medal. The Star Racing Yamaha wasn´t at the same level as the Lawrence brothers or Roczen, but he was solid enough to clinch the third spot on the second night and on the overall as well. Webb capitalized on all the mistakes to finish in the top three a couple of times. However, it seems he has a lot of work to do heading to Anaheim 1.
Reigning King of Paris Ken Roczen came short of the podium despite winning the second Sprint Race on Sunday. The HEP Suzuki rider was the main rival of Jett but a pair of crashes during the weekend dropped from the overall podium, finishing 4th overall with the same amount of points as Webb (21).
Local heroes Cedric Soubeyras and Greg Aranda were the best french in the class. Soubeyras finished 5th overall while Aranda 6th. Aranda was one of the few riders to beat Jett Lawrenc3 as he topped the Superpole session on night 2.
OVERALL RESULTS:
SX1 KING OF PARIS
SX2 PRINCE OF PARIS
