Already the 10th edition of the Spring meeting highlighting sporting heritage: the Sunday Ride Classic
This 10th opus will be held at Paul Ricard circuit March 24/25, 2018, the circuit which will welcome the return of F1 in June!!!
The particularity of the Sunday Ride is to highlight motorcycle sport in its different aspects from 1970 to 2018!
Vintage drivers and current drivers,
500 collectible motorcycles and current exhibition with road shows,
11 Races from the first customer competitions of the 70s to the current Ducati Panigale
All sports motorcycling celebrated over the last 5 decades.
For the record, the 2017 edition: The whole bike from Ago to Zarco!
New F1 track: This year, the Sunday Ride will be the first to inaugurate the new modified track for the return of Formula 1 and will open the 2018 season of the Paul Ricard circuit! 3 new, unique turns to discover during the Sunday Ride! Crowds expected for this exceptional moment!
First star announced at this 10th edition: the American driver WES COOLEY!
After making “come back” Soili Saarinenthen Freddie spencer et
Jean Louis Tournadre over the last 4 years, we are proud to have succeeded in convincing and presenting for the first time in Europe: Wes Cooley
Wes competed in the Bol d'Or in 1978 and has never returned to Europe since!!!
He will find Paul Ricard changed!!!
Wes Cooley was the icon of the team
Suzuki Yoshimura at the time of the AMA Superbike championship of which he was double Champion 79/80.
Proof of the level of this Californian rider born in Los Angeles, it is he who won the 2 AMA Superbike titles of 79 and 80 by beating Eddie Lawson (Kawasaki rider at that time) and Freddie Spencer (Honda) whose careers we know when they arrive in GP 500!
This US Superbike championship was extremely tough: it will also allow Waine Rainey and later to Kevin schwantz (who will have recovered Cooley's place within the Suzuki USA team and inherited Cooley's No. 34) to also come to the GP 500!
By being a double Champion in front of boys of this level, that tells you if Wes Cooley was a VERY good one! He also won the first 8 hours of Suzuka in 1980 and again in 1982, still on Suzuki! Suzuki also produced the GS 1000 S, the first Japanese production “replica” motorcycle featuring the image of Wes Cooley and the US championship. And today's sports roadsters all owe something to this little Californian swaying on his big 1000 4 cylinder!
Unfortunately his career ended with a very serious fall in 1985 at Sears Point (double fracture of the neck, femurs, pelvis, etc.) because his hands never regained the strength and precision necessary to be able to use the same performance level. Wes has since become a nurse.
He will be at the Sunday Ride Classic for signings and a few laps alongside Freddie Spencer, whom he has never seen for 40 years! They will both be on replica machines of their vintage Superbikes!!!
Lots of stories in store, he warned us! Great moment on the Paul Ricard route!
All the other themes will be announced in the coming weeks and there will be many to celebrate this 10th edition!
March 24/25
Paul Ricard Circuit
Demo registrations open, file on request to:
