Blaster of Paris

Winners don't take prisoners.

 

Barcia dominated the Friday show, his only defeat coming in a qualifying leg of the ‘Americaine' KO series when he narrowly failed to catch holeshot rider Gautier Paulin. 

 

But he made no mistakes in the decisive final three shoot-out and in the Main an hour later he was quickly past the Frenchman to open up a cushion before Canard could follow suit.

 

An error at two-third distance settled it as the generally smoother Canard got out of shape: "Barcia dislodged a rock in the turn and it rolled in front of my wheel.”

 

Paulin, strong on the opening night, retained a secure third to the chequered flag, but Andrew Short gifted Will Hahn third when he forgot to take the Joker Lane.

 

Saturday is always THE night in Paris as they turn up the lights and the fans who make it a sell-out three-months before the doors open, fire up their heroes. 

 

The night eventually ended with a 1-2-3-4 for American riders, but at least the fans got to cheer Paulin as he collected the $1,000 cheque for the Superpole, even if a certain degree of manipulation was obvious as conflicting times appeared on the overhead screen.

 

From the word go the Main was about Barcia and Canard. 

 

The mid-west rider was faster than Barcia all night – but raw speed is not always enough.

 

Inching closer Canard learned from the previous day's racing and went through the ‘Joker Lane' as soon as Andrew Short was far enough back in third to not risk losing a place.

 

But Barcia played roulette and waited until they hit the lapped riders, actually putting a back-marker between the pair with a scorching pass via the ‘Joker Lane'. 

 

The earlier B Final had already shown that the easing of the sand chicane did not present such a handicap as the previous evening.

 

However, Canard was on his game and as they entered the final two laps he was back on Barcia's rear-wheel and looking for a place to pass. 

 

His effort came when he nailed the whoops close to the stadium wall, but he clearly forgot the 11th commandment – you don't try to ride around ‘Bam Bam' on the outside.

 

"I never look behind,” grinned the bearded one. 

 

"But if someone tries to pass me...” 

 

He ran Canard unceremoniously in the bales and scooted off for the win. 

 

He even raised cheers this time, after all it wasn't a Frenchman he had planted!

 

Short remembered his lesson from Friday to take third, and teenage rookie Cooper Webb completed US joy by heading off Paulin for the entire 15 laps. Canard needed a miracle from his buddy upstairs to take the overall, particularly when the Honda men started lapping two seconds faster than the rest of the field on Sunday.

 

But the jitters set in and each lost the front wheel on an ever-slicker surface before recovering to still win their respective heats.

 

And the drama was still not over. 

 

Barcia did it again in the ‘Americaine' and Canard, in his wheeltracks, went down too so that neither had a decent gate pick, indeed Canard gambled on the second row rather than taking the outside. 

 

And his decision paid off as he emerged from turn one fifth, with Barcia two places further back.

 

Paulin had found his gating boots again, but caution was the word in the GP camp, as his achievements earlier in the weekend salvaged his pride.

 

Short went through on lap three and by lap six Canard had emerged from the pack, having already made up for his trip down the ‘Joker Lane' to sweep past for the win.

 

Barcia had also been making phenomenal passes, but the extra lap he needed to make it to second was enough to decide the race and, having got so close, the forthcoming King was not about to throw away his title with an outrageous move.

 

So Bercy ended for another year – with another outstanding success.

 

 

King of Bercy: 1 Justin Barcia (US - Muscle Milk Honda) 4 points, 2 Trey Canard (US - Muscle Milk Honda) 5, 3 Andrew Short (US - BTO Sports KTM) 11, 4 Gautier Paulin (F - Kawasaki KRT) 12, 5 Cedric Soubeyras (F - Honda HDI) 20, 6 Cooper Webb (US - Star Yamaha) 20, 7 Will Hahn (US - Geico Honda) 22, 8 Greg Aranda (F - Rockstar Bud Kawasaki) 24, 9 Fabien Izoird (F - SR Suzuki) 26, 10 Jordi Tixier (F - Red Bull KTM) 27, 11 Valentin Teillet (F - Rockstar Bud Kawasaki) 28, 12 Matteo Bonini (Kawasaki) 36, 13 Loic Rombaut (F - Honda) 42, 14 Cyril Coulon (F - Suzuki) 43, 15 Charles Lefrancois (F - Suzuki) 46, 16 Jason Clermont (F - SR Suzuki) 48, 17 Kevin Ballenger (F - Yamaha) 48, 18 David Adam (F - KTM) 55, 19 Romain Biela (F - Kawasaki) 56, 20 Gaetan Le Hir (F - Honda) 62,...

Day One – Friday: 1 Barcia, 2 Canard, 3 Paulin, 4 Hahn, 5 Short, 6 Tixier, 7 Soubeyras, 8 Aranda, 9 Teillet, 10 Izoird,...

Day Two – Saturday: 1 Barcia, 2 Canard, 3 Short, 4 Webb, 5 Paulin, 6 Hahn, 7 Soubeyras, 8 Izoird, 9 Aranda, 10 Teillet,...

Day Three – Sunday: 1 Canard, 2 Barcia, 3 Short, 4 Paulin, 5 Webb, 6 Soubeyras, 7 Aranda, 8 Izoird, 9 Teillet, 10 Tixier,...