Brayton's King of Bercy
By TMX Archives on 5th Nov 09
LONG live the King but which one?A keying-in error by the timekeepers saw thousands of fans leave Bercy on Sunday evening in the belief that James Stewart had retained his title as King of Bercy' despite a bout of stomach cramp and dizziness, which prevented him going to the line for the final race of the three-day Parisienne festival.
It was a quarter-of-an-hour after the crowning ceremony in absenti that the awful truth dawned on the embarrassed promoter – Justin Brayton, not even on the podium at the ceremony in the arena, had secured the crown by the single point!
Some 220 years on, it was 2-0 for the Republicans!
The Sunday programme in the French capital had given no indication of the drama and chaotic scenes, which were to see the event end in shambles.
Gaining ever more confidence each day Marvin Musquin had made Stewart pull out all the stops to take victory in the ‘Superpole' which opened the main programme each day, and the AMA champion appeared simply to be adopting a minimalist approach as he won the three sprints of the ‘Americaine' by narrow margins.
Even when he failed to show for the sighting lap of the Grand Finale, it was easy to suspect a wind-up, and when L&M team-mate Josh Hill, until then a dismal failure all weekend, sprinted clear, the first reaction was to look closer to see if the promoters were playing charades.
PARIS BERCY SUPERCROSS
Bercy Stadium, Paris, FRANCE
OVERALL – KING OF BERCY: 1 Justin Brayton (US - JGR Yamaha), 2 James Stewart (US - L&M Yamaha), 3 Gregory Aranda (F - Bud Kawasaki), 4 Marvin Musquin (F - Red Bull KTM 250F), 5 Fabien Izoird (F - Import Suzuki), 6 Josh Hill (US - L&M Yamaha), 7 Nick Wey (US - Kawasaki), 8 Matt Boni (US - Honda), 9 Christophe Martin (F - Husqvarna), 10 Davide Degli Esposti (I - Suzuki), 11 Jason Thomas (US - Suzuki), 12 Benjamin Coisy (F - Honda), 13 Pierre-Alexandre Renet (F - Suzuki), 14 Cedric Soubeyras (F - NGS Honda 250F), 15 Stephane Demartis (F - Honda), 16 Steve Boniface (F - Honda), 17 Cyrille Coulon (F - Suzuki).
FRIDAY: 1 Stewart 1-1-1, 2 Brayton 2-2-2, 3 Aranda 3-7-4, 4 Izoird 4-9-5, 5 Hill 8-4-9, 6 Boni 9-8-6, 7 Musquin 7-14-3, 8 Wey 11-6-7, 9 Boniface 6-4-15, 10 Coisy 10-3-15, 11 Martin 12-10-8, 12 Coulon 5-11-15, 13 Renet 13-12-10, 14 Thomas 14-13-11.
SATURDAY: 1 Stewart 3-1-1, 2 Brayton 1-3-2, 3 Musquin 4-2-4, 4 Aranda 2-8-3, 5 Izoird 5-5-5, 6 Wey 9-6-6, 7 Boni 8-4-12, 8 Hill 6-10-8, 9 Degli Esposti 10-7-7, 10 Coisy 7-9-15, 11 Martin 11-14-9, 12 Soubeyras 13-11-11, 13 Thomas 14-12-10, 14 Renet 12-13-13.
SUNDAY: 1 Musquin 2-2-3, 2 Hill 6-3-1, 3 Brayton 3-4-5, 4 Aranda 4-7-2, 5 Izoird 5-5-4, 6 Stewart 1-1-15, 7 Wey 7-6-8, 8 Demartis 12-8-6, 9 Thomas 11-9-9, 10 Soubeyras 13-11-7, 11 Degli Esposti 9-12-10, 12 Renet 10-10-12, 13 Martin 8-13-13, 14 Boni 15-15-11.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009
JUSTIN BRAYTON