Round 1 to Vuillemin

| October 22, 2000

In front of 40,000 screaming spectators, defending World Supercross champion David Vuillemin won the opening round of the World Supercross championships, held at the Stad de France stadium yesterday in Paris, France. Vuillemin led the Final from start to finish, taking home his second consecutive Stad de France victory.

“It feels great to win here again,” Vuillemin said. “I’ve taken some time off and feel great. The way the races went tonight worked in my favor.”

Vuillemin will not compete in the remaining rounds of the World Supercross Championship. Another series favorite, Jeremy McGrath, failed to finish in France after crashing on the first lap. Mickael Pichon also crashed on lap one, finally finishing in 17th place. The poor results from Pichon and McGrath now make the championship a wide-open affair. It now seems that second-placed Mike LaRocco or third-placed Greg Albertyn will be favored to take the three-race championship at the final round in Germany on November 25.

New Zealand’s Josh Coppins claimed a consistant fourth place, while in fifth place was another French rider, Rodrig Thain on a KTM. Coppins was happy to claim such a high place in a Supercross race.

“I’m not really a Supercross rider; I’m very glad to get fourth place,”Coppins said.”I just took my time all night and that paid off.”

World 125cc Motocross Champion Grant Langston failed to make the main event after finishing low down in his semi-final race.

Results

1. David Vuillemin; France – Yamaha

2. Mike Larocco; USA – Honda

3. Greg Albertyn; SA – Suzuki

4. Josh Coppins; NZ – Suzuki

5. Rodrig Thain; France – KTM

By Freelance