Yankee Doodle
By Alex Hodgkinson on 16th Nov 12
Veni, vidi, vici. They came, they saw and they conquered.
Asterix and Obelix stuck it up the Romans a couple of millennia ago.
But the Frenchies had little to offer against the supreme US task force of Jake Weimer, Eli Tomac and Justin Brayton as they swept the podium on each evening of the 30th Bercy Supercross.
Weimer took the title in a last lap thriller !
It was all too easy on the first evening as even a lacklustre Christophe Pourcel, unhappy in the all-important whoops, was out of touch.
Greg Aranda was clearly not yet 100% au fait with his new Honda, and it was left to Cedric Soubeyras to offer resistance.
But even Soubs had no chance, Brayton running him down with ease in the opening heat.
And a mediocre start in the Main meant that he needed half the race to take fifth from the elegant Cyrille Coulon. Up front Weimer hit the front early and kept Tomac at arm's length until the final lap when the Honda man made a desperate
unsuccessful charge which came up short at the final turn.
Brayton, up with the youngsters in the opening laps, had long since accepted his fate and throttled back for a safe third.
Brayton had no problems with Aranda in the opening heat on Saturday and Wil Hahn charged through to complete a US 1-2-3 in heat two.
Jack Brunell did Britain proud, just missing the transfer by ten yards in the most difficult heat of the three.
Saturday is the night when the lights are put on full glare, as the hardcore MX enthusiasts travel from all over France by coach to turn the stadium into a cauldron.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX NOVEMBER 16
KING OF BERCY
1 Jake Weimer (USA - Kawasaki) 1-1-2
2 Eli Tomac (USA - Honda) 2-2-1
3 Justin Brayton (USA - Yamaha) 3-3-3
4 Cedric Soubeyras (France - Honda) 5-5-4
5 Wil Hahn (USA - Honda) 6-7-6
6 Cyrille Coulon (France - Suzuki) 7-6-7
7 Kyle Chisholm (USA - Kawasaki) 4-4-14
8 Fabien Izoird (France - Suzuki) 10-8-5
9 Charles Lefrancois (France - Suzuki) 8-9-9
10 Christophe Martin (France - Honda) 15-10-8
HEATS
Friday: 1 Weimer, Tomac, 3 Brayton, 4 Chisholm, 5 Soubeyras, 6 Hahn, 7 Coulon, 8 Lefrancois, 9 Christophe Pourcel (F - KTM), 10 Izoird
Saturday: 1 Weimer, 2 Tomac, 3 Brayton, 4 Chisholm, 5 Soubeyras, 6 Coulon, 7 Hahn, 8 Izoird, 9 Lefrancois, 10 Martin
Sunday: 1 Tomac, 2 Weimer, 3 Brayton, 4 Soubeyras, 5 Izoird, 6 Hahn, 7 Coulon, 8 Martin, 9 Lefrancois, 10 Jason Clermont (F - Honda)
