The Nuttiest Paris Night Ever? – Racer X
Nanterre, France
I’ve been to a lot of Bercy/Lille/Paris Supercrosses in my time, probably over twenty, and 2025 night one might take the cake for the nuttiest one I’ve ever seen. That’s saying a lot!
First the good: Rockstar Husqvarna’s Malcolm Stewart swept all three main events and with ease at that! Stewart, who hadn’t ridden much coming in and didn’t seem like he thought he could win, used great starts and superior whoop speed to sweep night one. He passed Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb in main one, led wire to wire in main two and then passed Jett Lawrence in main three on the first rhythm to complete the domination. Yes, Mookie passed Webb in one race and Lawrence in another.
When asked if he was surprised with the results, Mookie admitted just that.
“I kind of surprised myself!” Stewart told Racer X after the main events. “I’ve been having fun. I was cooking out there, starts, whoops and everything. That was just night one, we got another night. We can do better, there was a lot of carnage out there with the Lawrence brothers. That might have shook those guys up. I felt like I rode a clean race and brought it home.”
Ah yes, the Lawrence brothers. Well, the night started off with a bang in the wrong way for both of them when Hunter went down in the first turn and then Jett was taken down by an out-of-control Tom Vialle. Vialle, making his Honda debut, went long on the triple, bounced off the fourth jump and took Jettson down. From there the brothers fought back for fourth and an eighth but the road for Jettson especially looked long to get the King of Paris trophy back he won in 2023.
In the second main it was again Stewart with the start and he checked out with the win with Hunter not too far away and Jett in third so not all was lost for the Honda HRC riders. They pulled away from Webb a bit as well and going into the longer third main, the outlook looked okay for the two riders that have dominated most of the mains these last two years.
But yeah, the third main…not good for the brothers from Australia. Jett got passed by Malcolm in the first straight and then Hunter got by him as well. The order was set from there, Stewart, Hunter and Jett and then Jett washed his front end before the whoops and twisted up his bike for a DNF. This marked crash #3 for the #18 on the night as he also lost the front in the Superpole contest after main #1.
But shortly after that, Hunter had a scary endo in the whoops that cut his night short. He stayed down for a bit, walked off and then sat back down to get some medical attention. Not a nice way to spend a vacation in Paris. We’ll see if the #96 races tomorrow or not but from what I hear, it wasn’t good.
According to people we talked to, the Hondas the boys were riding without their factory motors, and the engines weren’t as good as they were used to and they also had some suspension difficulties. It was a very un-Lawrence like night for both of the guys.
Webb had an “okay” night. He ran up front main one before dropping back a bit and mentioned that they needed to do some bike changes for main two. After some suspension adjustments and he was more in the mix but the 2025 AMA Supercross Champion looked to be off the pace of Malcolm.
Tom Vialle made that much-anticipated Honda HRC 450 debut. He had that incident with Jett, and beyond that he was just okay, about a top six or seven guy in qualifying and then some decent mains from there.
The whoops were big indeed which did suit Stewart. Marshall Weltin told us that they were the biggest whoops he’s ever ridden in his life! It didn’t help that unlike past years, they didn’t get smooshed as much by the track maintenance. The dirt was harder than usual for night one to this reporter’s eyes.
So with the bad night for the Lawrences and the great night for Stewart, Malcolm is up five points on Webb after night one and Cedric Soubeyras is third with 13. With Olympic-style scoring, really, unless complete disaster strikes both Stewart and Webb, it’s a two-man race for the King of Paris honors tomorrow afternoon.