This weekend during the 42nd Paris Supercross, Bud Racing celebrated its 30th anniversary at the Paris La Défense Arena. Australian Luke Clout, a key player in the SX2 class where he won four of the six SX2 motos, put under the lights the Bud Racing Kawasaki team by securing a silver medal.

Paris remain the unmissable event for Supercross fans over the years, and this year’s SX, the main one in Europe, once again drew a packed house. The team was represented in all three categories: SX1, SX2, and Junior.

In the SX2 class our two Australians livened up the races, with Luke Clout taking a brilliant victory on Saturday night. After finding his rhythm in the first moto, which he finished in second place, Luke went on to win the other two races of the evening. Sunday started perfectly with another victory, but a crash at the second start cost him the lead in the category. With a fourth win in the final race of the weekend, Luke secured the silver medal.

Meanwhile, Jake Cannon improved throughout the weekend; after some excellent starts, he narrowly missed the top five following a DNF in Sunday’s second moto.

In the SX1 class Mitchell Harrison was back in the team for the weekend; in a very competitive field, he performed well, finishing seventh.

Less success for young Tim Lopes, who competed in the junior class; third fastest in qualifying, he was battling for a podium finish on Saturday before fracturing his collarbone in a crash.

This weekend the team was also on action in Vancouver (Canada) for the second round of the World Championship. In SX2 Kyle Peters and Cole Thompson finished fifth and sixth respectively, while in SX1, Justin Hill finished eleventh.

Stéphane Dasse: « It was a great weekend that started off perfectly with Friday night’s party to celebrate our 30th anniversary with lots of friends and partners. And it continued on Saturday with Luke’s SX2 victory! We’re a little disappointed because Luke missed out the Prince of Paris title due to a crash at the start of one race, but it was still a great weekend. Both Luke and Jake, who was competing in this race for the first time, gave us a great show, not to mention young Tim Lopes, who was also showing promise until his crash. We had more partners at the team than ever before, it was great to welcome all these people who support us. Meanwhile, there was another Supercross in Vancouver; in the 250 class, things went well with a fifth and a sixth place finish, results close to our goals. It was more difficult in the 450 class, with Matt Moss injured and Josh Hill not performing as expected. See you in two weeks in Australia for the third round of the World Supercross Championship.”

Results Paris:
Luke Clout : Second in SX2 (Saturday 2/1/1 and Sunday 1/13/1)
Jake Cannon : Sixth in SX2 (Saturday 7/6/4 and Sunday 5/15/5)
Mitchell Harrison : Seventh in SX1 (Saturday 6/12/5 and Sunday 7/7/7)

Team Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki took off for the United States, and California to be precise, at the beginning of January. The team’s newest recruit for the next 2 years, young Australian Jake Cannon, was the lucky one to set off to discover the United States and, above all, to take part in his very first SX US race against the best young Americans of the moment. A novice in the discipline, with only one season in Australian supercross in the SX3 category, Jake set off for 3 weeks of preparation for the ultimate race, which took place in Glendale on February 1st.

It was in one of the 10 most beautiful stadiums in the world that he set his wheels down last Saturday on the biggest track of the SX US calendar. The 17-year-old rider didn’t blush against the discipline’s top youngsters, placing 5th in time practice and 3rd in the second session, less than half a second from pole. He showed then that he had the speed and ambition to go for a good result in the one and only race of the evening.

And so it was on a single 8-minute final that it all came down to this evening. Unfortunately, Jake got tangled up with another rider just 10 meters from the start line and couldn’t keep his handlebars from passing into his rival’s wheel. As a result, he fell and broke his throttle, unable to fight back and show what he could do.

The experience was more than productive, and a lot of positives can be taken from it, with speed well in evidence against competitors who have been training in this discipline since they were very young.

The Team is now back in France, already focused on the Enduropale du Touquet, where Francisco Garcia, the Team’s second Spanish recruit, will compete in the Junior category, before heading off with his two riders to the opening round of the French ELITE motocross championship the following weekend. The idea of returning to the US in 2025 is still very much on our minds.

Stéphane Dassé: “Although it’s very frustrating not to have been able to fight, I’m really happy with Jake, his attitude and what he showed on Saturday. My aim is to continue to bring young people to the United States, and in particular to Supercross, to open their minds and show them what’s going on in the world alongside MXGP, and if they want to hope one day to finish in the United States, they have to do Supercross from a very young age, that’s what I’m trying to teach them.”

Jake Cannon: “What an experience it’s been for me. I arrived here on January 10, I didn’t know the Team and I immediately felt really good. I really learned and enjoyed the experience, but I’m very disappointed not to have been able to go all the way. It makes me want to come back even more, but I’m already going to concentrate fully on my European season.”

As every year team Bud Racing Kawasaki was last weekend at the Paris la Défense Arena, home of the 41st Supercross of Paris. And it was a good one for us and our partners, with a great second overall for Anthony Bourdon in the SX2 class and a podium for Brice Maylin in the SX Tour round.

The Paris Supercross celebrated its 40th birthday this year (and 41st edition as there was two SX organised in 1984) and the success is always there, on the track as well as in the stadium which was full during both days. And the atmosphere was great, a few months after the Olympic swimming competitions organised in this Arena.

Coming straight from US where he trained alongside David Vuillemin, Anthony Bourdon was stronger race after race during the weekend to fight for podiums results in each of the six races (three per day). Saturday evening he was leading the ‘Prince of Paris’ classification as he was the most consistent rider (3/4/2) while the two favourites crashed in one race. Performing well on Sunday (3/3/3) Anthony ends the event tight in the points with Tom Vialle who won the gold medal thanks to heat wins. Anthony received the silver medal behind Tom who is a reigning US champion, and this result confirms his progression in Supercross and the competitivity of our 250 KX Kawasaki.

The French SX Tour was also invited at Paris, with one SX2 race each night before the main program. On Saturday Brice Maylin finished sixth, and improved his rhythm on Sunday to perform better with a strong second position; he consolidates his third position in the championship before the last two rounds in Lyon and Grenoble. Invited to race the International SX2 class, Brice scored top eight in each race ( (5/8/5 on Saturday and 7/6/8 on Sunday) to finish seventh overall.

The team is now moving to Australia, to race next weekend the second and third rounds of the Supercross World Championship.

Back from the World Championship final in Australia, Anthony Bourdon and the Bud Racing Kawasaki team headed for Lyon for the SX Tour final. The final saw Anthony climb the podium twice, to claim the runner-up spot in the SX1 class.

Back on his 450 Kawasaki after racing in Paris and Melbourne in the 250 class, Anthony quickly found his feet in the cauldron that is Lyon’s Palais des Sports. In contention for the final championship podium prior to this final, Anthony scored precious points on Friday evening when he climbed onto the second step of the podium after a fierce wheel-to-wheel battle with the new French champion. All the signs were green, until a collision at the start of Saturday’s final sent Anthony crashing to the ground! After starting last with Greg Aranda, the two crashed again in their comeback and set the stadium crazy with a superb comeback to the front, with Anthony taking third place in the final corner just 5 seconds from victory.

With 7 podium finishes in the 8 races contested in the premier class of the French supercross championship, Anthony has put in a very fine season to place his Kawasaki and all the sponsors he represents on the championship’s second final step.