Reed Wins First Night of Bercy Supercross

Shan Moore | November 9, 2007

To the delight of a very vocal Parisian crowd, Jeremy McGrath returned to Paris for the 25th running of the Bercy Supercross, and he delighted the fans with great starts and an eventual sixth-place finish on the first of three nights of racing, however it was Chad Reed who stole the show, easily winning tonight’s main event and putting himself in good shape to earn the coveted title of “King of Bercy”.

After grabbing the holeshot in the final, Reed quickly put distance between his L&M Yamaha and the rest of the pack while rivals Grant Langston and Andrew Short suffered problems on the opening lap. Shorty got off the gate in bad shape and was near the back of the pack at the end of the first circuit, while Langston gated well but had a rider land on the back of his motorcycle just halfway into the opening lap.

Meanwhile, French favorites Benjamin Coisy and Cyrille Coulon were off to good starts, just ahead of McGrath, but a good ways behind Reed.

Langston eventually worked his Yamaha back into third place but ran out of time before he could catch Coisy for second.

Honda-mounted Short was also able to work the traffic well on the tight and rutted course, moving into fourth by the 15th and final lap. Meanwhile, Coulon held on for fifth, a few bike-lengths in front of McGrath.

US hopefuls Justin Brayton and Josh Grant finished 10th and 11th, respectively. Brayton got a good start but was suffering from set-up problems that had also plagued him during practice. Meanwhile, Grant suffered a poor start and had difficulty working his way through traffic.

Results:

1. Chad Reed (Yam); 2. Benjamin Coisy (Hon); 3. Grant Langston (Yam); 4. Andrew Short (Hon); 5. Cyrille Coulon (Hon); 6. Jeremy McGrath (Hon); 7. Eric Sorby (Kaw); 8. Marvin Musquin (Kaw); 9. Gautier Paulin (Kaw); 10. Justin Brayton (KTM); 11. Josh Grant (Hon); 12. Nicolas Aubin (Yam); 13. Steven Frossard (Kaw); 14. Jean Sebastien Roy (Yam); 15. Jer Van Horebeek (KTM).

Shan Moore | Contributing Editor

Moore covers all facets of off-road racing for Cycle News – from AMA Supercross and Motocross to GNCC and National Hare Scrambles events.