The Moment: Paris-Bercy
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 | 3:50 PM
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The Bercy Supercross, held each year in the fall in Paris, France is no stranger to controversy over the years. From Rick Johnson jumping on Ron Lechien to Chad Reed smashing into Jeremy McGrath to Mike Alessi tangling with Christophe Pourcel, there is always plenty of action. Now we get to add the Justin Barcia and Gregory Aranda battle from this past weekend.
GEICO Honda’s Barcia was the defending champion of the race but his hopes of claiming his second win went out the window when he went down in the first turn in Friday’s main event and busted his spokes. That was it for Justin, his hopes were dashed for the overall since he’d have to take a Friday DNF. Hopes were also dashed for the man who went down with him in the first turn, French hero Gregory Aranda, who also DNF’d after that fall.
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Barcia's chances of repeating went out the window after a DNF on Friday.
Photo: Sarah Gutierrez
Smashcut to Saturday and the elimination races. These are a series of three, three-lap races where the bottom four riders were eliminated. The first race featured 12 riders, and the final contained only four. These races were important because they determined your gate pick for the main event and both Aranda and Barcia survived the first series before lining up for the next one.
And that’s where things got nuts.
The pack of eight came flying into the first turn with Aranda on the outside behind Mike Alessi. Aranda’s Kawasaki lost some traction and then quickly gained it right back, which was great for him but not so great for Barcia and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer. Aranda wasn’t lined up straight when he regained that valuable traction. He shot across to the inside of the track and came across both Barcia and Weimer’s front wheels taking both riders down. Unlucky for those two, but lucky for Aranda in that he stayed up and was in the race.
Until The Moment.
Weimer was done, he rode off the track and headed to the pits. But Barcia, he was going to get his pound of flesh right now. He slowly rode his bike down the straight until he was getting lapped by the pack who had now reentered the arena. When Aranda went by him, Barcia took him out to the corner, stopped and told him in no uncertain terms he wasn’t happy by flashing him the “no, you’re not number one” finger.
That was it for the crowd. Boos rained down on the Honda rider. Aranda’s race was ruined and he definitely wanted to talk to Justin about that. The two riders were in the starting line area and going to maybe take things a little further when they were separated and Barcia went back to the pits. Things were already a 10 on the wacky scale at this point but the it went to 11 when Aranda, feeling like he was robbed of a good finish by Barcia, decided to go out onto the track and sit down! His hopes of getting a red flag and a restart went up in flames when he was eventually dragged off.
Eventually Barcia and Aranda came out in front of the crowd and shook hands, declaring that the USA-France relations would remain on good terms. But for a little while there, it was quite a show.
But then again, it’s Bercy!
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I like Barcia but he will be a human wrecking ball when he moves up to 450s
Barcia was definitely in the wrong and responsible for turning a simple racing incident into that whole situation. But I almost forget about Barcia's stupidity when I hear about Aranda sitting on the track instead of carrying on his race. Sitting on the track like a child hoping for a restart? That is by far way more embarassing than what Barcia did, that right there is true Euro style drama right from the soccer handbook.
That's exactly what the 450 class needs, some more excitement. Maybe if he puts Dungey into the hay bales a few times, it will finally spark something in that kid. Hes out there riding like hes afraid of getting dirty.
That crash was a total acident.I guess Barcia forgot what he did to Marvin Musquin.Aranda was about to fire Barcia's head up and he rode off like the puss he is.I love how they try to spin it like they were abou to fight and Barcia went to the pits.
Barcia can give it but he sure can't take it. That crash was simply racing. He a little b**ch and needs to grow up
marcia - marcia - barcia
the moment - holy shitballs
Thats why the outdoors is so much better than those little girl arenacross tracks-racin gone gay
Arandatan crashing and taking out 17 and 32 is a racing incident
Barcia waiting and parking Arandatan in the corner also racing incident
Those two fighting each other on live TV; NOT a racing incident. Wise choice of JB17 to ride away. Scared or not. Racers pr'lly shouldn't fight anyway. On camera it just looks stupid. Like two bobble heads swinging with blindfolds on.
this vid makes barcia look like a big ole wuss, strait running away while talkn smack
"The two riders were in the starting line area and going to maybe take things a little further when they were separated and Barcia went back to the pits."
Mathes that's an interesting way to put it. The camera tells a different story. Just sayin.
Better take the video out if you want to make up your own story.
Good thing Barcia was riding a 450!! Aranda probably would of caught up to him , if he was on a 250 and wrung his neck out like he so deserves... tuck that tail and run big boy!
All of this makes Alessi seem like a mature professional after Vegas.
What Barcia done was dumb----lost temper and look stupid in front of the world!! What Aranda did after was just plain embarassing !!! Is he French or something ?
With all the finger flipping going on... Everyone forgets about the biggest finger flipper of all time and no one ever bashed on him about it... Bob Hannah...
There is nothing worse than a when a guy acts like a bully and when somebody stands up to him he runs like a coward! Barcias reckless style is way overboard. He broke Durums foot at the first east SX. He should have been DQ'd at Bercy. These teams spend so much time and money to have a season ended by dirty riding. And to all the guys who say rubbin is racing look what Reeds dirty riding did for the 2010 SX season. His stupid dirty bock pass ended his and Stewarts season and made the 450s a snooze fest. Unessesary dirty riding is not good for the sport. Just remember when these teams are paying the top guys huge money while they are injured you and I pay for it everytime we buy a bike, gear etc.
twink - you're an idiot. Who the hell is "Durum"? if you mean Durham, it was Wilson who he made contact with which broke his foot. 2010 boring? Exactly what part of the Dungey/Villopoto battle was boring? Maybe you should watch the replay for the first time if you think Reed's attempted pass was dirty.
I'm not sure if I should be angry at you or the public middle school you dropped out of.
i think we saw a preview of whats to come after the barcia- dungey run in at unadilla
I feel sorry for Aranda. Whatever he may or may not accomplish in his career, no matter how many mains he makes or top tens he gets in the US, he is forever going to be known as the french guy who laid on the track.
That laying on the track thing, is most likely a learned behavior from the french military, its common in france to surrender.
joemotocross589 wrote: That laying on the track thing, is most likely a learned behavior from the french military, its common in france to surrender.
Wow, and that coming from an American who´s armed forces were chased out of Vietman with their tails tucked firmly up their arseholes.
The French are a couragous nation. They didn´t control half of Europe at one time because they surrendered all the time. Maybe American´s like to hold up the cowardly French stereotype because they need company in that area. I see it´s done often in these forums. Maybe you guys still haven´t got over JMB coming over to the USA and kicking some serious yankie ass.
Joeidiotcross, just remember, when you point a finger at someone, there are three pointing back at you.
They didn't have to seperate the riders, Barcia seperated himself back to the pits. Can serve it up, but he cant eat it. he'll grow up, somebody will eventually put him in his place. As a spectator, it's awesome!!
Mike,,,,,, ?? I believe I left you an open invite back before the MXDN.
I have to say although this incident was unnecessary I found it to be very entertaining!! I like Barcia he is a riot and sometimes he's pretty out of line but like others on here have said before, its not always the results and pre-fab boring interviews which make a rider popular but there TRUE wild emotions which make them fan favorites! So be careful all you haters out there because without the wild men our sport would become pretty damn boring......bring on the madness!!!
ohh P.S. Euromike your an idiot hahahaha
@ euromike where were all of the suposudly tough Frenchies on D-Day My Uncle never saw a Frecnhcie till he made it a loooong way from Naormandy Beach. The, we Americans Liberated Paris France from that idiot Hitler and Germany .
What do you say to that eoromike?
@Welker:
Youé right, "we" liberated france. Just like we liberated the indians.
History is not a one-way street.
Good point Welker and I applaud your patriotism but you Americans in general are a little too quick to take all the credit for things. As a proud Canadian I'm pretty sure that my country as well as other nations played a vital role in the liberation of France and the rest of Europe.....
That's enough with the politics and s**t slinging......January can't come soon enough!
Ripdown, you are correct. I also am not trying to start a pissing match but the Canadian military typically don't get the credit as we always ride the coat tails of the USA it seems. We especially killed it in WW1.....Battle of Ypres, Battle of the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele come to mind.
As British Prime Minister Lloyd George wrote, "The Canadians played a part of such distinction that thenceforward they were marked out as shock troops; for the remainder of the war they were brought along to head the assault in one great battle after another. Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line they prepared for the worst."
Apparently us northern hillbillies/farmers/eskimos are pretty fierce haha, whatever. We're probably viewed as soft now though since we don't go fight all these fabricated wars on the East we see nowadays.
Alessi ..........Still couldn't pull it off.....
Cry/sit down on the track. Sissy.