December 4, 2011

Brayton Wins Swiss SX at Geneva’s Palexpo Fri. & Sat.!

Honda-mounted American Justin Brayton(450 class) returned to the historic Monster Energy International Supercross Geneva – which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2010 – and defended his ’10 title, topping an all-star field of U.S. and international racers at Europe’s largest indoor supercross track, the Palexpo at Geneva Airport, in front of two capacity crowds this past weekend.

Re-dubbed the “King of Bercy,” Brayton bested a number of hard-hitting 450 class European racers in addition to the top American racers in attendance, including local Swiss star and crowd-favorite, Arnaud Tonus (Yamaha), Honda pilot Christophe Martin and Suzuki rider Fabien Izoird. American pro racers making the trek to Geneva and ultimately yielding to Brayton’s excellence included: recent Bercy SX champ Kyle Chisholm (Yamaha), Suzuki’s Mike Alessi, Matt Goerke (Yamaha) and Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Broc Tickle, along with, on a 250, an impressive performance (vs. the 450s) from American Zach Osborne (Yamaha).

“Tonight was great. I had three good starts and that was key,” said Brayton of Friday’s results. “There were a lot of fast guys here, so getting out from early was the key as the track got really rutted out as the night went on – which was challenging. But I won all three races so I’m happy.”

Brayton, who’s a new signee to the American factory Honda program, has apparently made the quick transition to the CRF450R without any issues, he said. “I’ve been riding a lot of supercross since I signed with factory Honda a couple months ago in order to get comfortable on the new bike.”

Monster Energy/Kawasaki-backed racers Tommy Searle and Tickle didn’t fare too well on Friday night as both DNFed the main event. Tickle crashed hard in his heat race and barely limped through the LCQ to make the main. A bad start led to a crash trying to catch up for Tickle, after which he pulled off the track to save things for Saturday. Searle got through his heats with 2nd/4th finishes and was running well in Friday’s main – until he threw things away mid-race in the whoop section.

Saturday’s racing ended up a bit better for Tickle, who placed 8th in the 450 main, while Searle – who went 2nd/2nd in his qualifiers, pulled off the track in the main after starting out in 4th place.

So it was Brayton again on Saturday who went 1st/1st/1st – with the final win being in the all-important main event to secure his King of Geneva status for another 365 days. “I’m super happy with the result tonight – a carbon copy of last night with three good starts and did my best to stay out of trouble,” said Brayton. “Tonus got the holeshot and I had to battle with him for a few laps before making the pass and putting down some hard laps to take the win. I’m pumped with tonight’s results.”

Brayton added that his plans are to return to Switzerland in 2012 to defend – for the second time – his King of Bercy titles. “I really enjoy this race, the fans are great and (they) really get behind you,” he said.

Italy’s Kiaria Fontanesi (Yamaha) was crowned Queen of Bercy in winning the women’s class.

2011 Monster Energy Geneva SX results
Friday SX1/SX2 – Combined shootout Main Event top-10
 1. Justin Brayton (Honda/450)
 2. Kyle Chisholm (Kawasaki/450)
 3. Christophe Martin (Honda/450)
 4. Zach Osborne (Yamaha/250)
 5. Mike Alessi (Suzuki/450)
 6. Fabien Izoird (Suzuki/450)
 7. Arnaud Tonus (Switzerland/Yamaha 450)
 8. Davide Degli Esposti (Italy/Suzuki/250)
 9. Matteo Bonini (Italy/Suzuki/450)
 10. Cyrille Coulon (F-Suzuki/450)

Saturday SX1/SX2 Main Event top-10
1. Justin Brayton (Honda/450)
2. Arnaud Tonus (Switzerland/Yamaha 450) /450)
3. Matt Goerke (USA/Yamaha/450)
4. Mike Alessi (Suzuki/450)
5. Christophe Martin (Honda/450)
6. Cyrille Coulon (F-Suzuki/450)
7. Zach Osborne (Yamaha/250)
8. Broc Tickle (USA/Kawasaki/450)
9. Fabien Izoird (F/Suzuki/450)
10. Kyle Chisholm (USA/Kawasaki/450)

King of Geneva 2011
1. Justin Brayton (USA/Honda)