Chisholm Crowned King of Bercy
Cycle News Staff | October 31, 2011
The 29th running of the Bercy Supercross in Paris, France, came down to the final night of racing to determine who would be this year’s King of Bercy. It basically came down to a two-rider showdown between Americans Eli Tomac and Kyle Chisholm who were tied on points going into Sunday’s final.
The Bercy decider was actually won by Tomac’s GEICO Honda’s Justin Barcia, but it was Chisholm coming away with the King of Bercy title. His third place bettered Tomac’s fifth, giving him the title by just two points.Chisholm came into the race as a full-on privateer, riding a Yamaha provided to him by the race promoter, and he earned the prestigious title by being the most consistent rider over the three-day event.Friday night’s race was won by Tomac. The Honda rider finished ahead of Chisholm, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer and Suzuki rider Mike Alessi.Chisholm and Tomac reversed positions Saturday night, with Chisholm taking the win and Tomac taking second place. One of France’s top Supercross riders Gregory Aranda was third, followed by Kawasaki rider Nick Wey. Alessi finished eighth and Weimer was credited with 11th after having pulled out.Troubles earlier in the night left both Chisholm and Tomac with poor gate picks for Sunday’s third and final main event, but Chisholm made the best of it, finding his way on to the podium for the third time in a row with a third-place finish, while Tomac could only manage a fifth. Chisholm’s 2-1-3 edged out Tomac’s 1-2-5 for the overall victory.
Defending Bercy Champion Barcia saw his chances of earning back the crown wiped out on the first night. Barcia was involved in a multi-rider pileup in the first turn and was force to retire with broken spokes in his wheel.Things didn’t go any better for Barcia on day two. He again went down on the first lap when French rider Gregory Aranda slipped out in a turn and cut across his path, clipping his wheel and taking Barcia to the ground along with Weimer, who was unable to continue.Aranda stayed upright, but Barcia took out his frustrations on Aranda later in the race by pulling in front of him and purposefully slowing his progress.Barcia finally had things go his way Sunday, as he took the win over Weimer and Chisholm.Aranda crashed during the final race and suffered a concussion.Despite pulling out of race two, Weimer still finished third overall with a 3-DNF-2.Fourth overall went to Alessi, followed by the top European rider Cedric Souberyras of France.Fabien Izoird, Tommy Searle, Wey, Barcia and Nicolas Aubin rounded out the top 10 overall.
