Pourcel Wins First Night of Bercy SX

Shan Moore | November 10, 2006

PARIS, FRANCE, NOV 10: Reigning MX2 World Champion Christophe Poursel drew first blood at the Bercy Supercross tonight, claiming the win on the opening night of the three-night extravaganza.

The 18-year-old Pourcel, riding a Monster Energy Pro Circuit-backed Kawasaki, inherited the lead on the third lap of the 15 lap final, after early leader Josh Grant crashed heavily in the whoops section. Pourcel then held on to take the win by six seconds over American rider Justin Brayton.

Brayton, riding a Motoworldracing.com YZ250F, made a great ride from deep in the pack to claim second, while French rider, wild-card Peirre-Alexandre Renet, rounded out the podium in third.

Grant looked certain to take an easy win after grabbing the holeshot in the main and quickly pulling a lead, however the Factory Connection/Sobe Samsung Honda rider tucked his front wheel in one of the deep whoops, which caused him to endo. Earlier, Grant had won his heat race after working up from a poor start, running down and easily passing Pourcel in the process.

It was not a good night for AMA regulars as crowd favorite David Vuillemin broke a valve on his MDK Honda on the first lap of the race, meanwhile Yamaha of Troy rider Jason Lawrence seized his motor on the same lap that Grant went out on.

Fourth overall went to Kawasaki’s Eric Sorby, with Red Bull KTM’s Mike Alessi finishing in fifth.

Results:

1. Christophe Pourcel (Kaw)

2. Justin Brayton (Yam)

3. Pierre Renet (Hon)

4. Eric Sorby (Kaw)

5. Mike Alessi (KTM)

6. Marco Dube (KTM)

7. Marvin Musquin (Kaw)

8. Mike Brown (Hon)

9. Antonio Cairoli (Yam)

10. Kounsith Vongsana (KTM)

11. Daniel Reardon (Kaw)

12. Cyrille Coulon (Hon)

13. Josh Grant (Hon)

14. Jason Lawrence (Yam)

15. David Vuillemin (Hon)