Changes to the FIM Motocross World Championships Regulations

FUNCHAL (Portugal), 24 November 2012 – After a recent meeting between Youthstream, FIM, manufacturers and teams, the Motocross and SuperMoto Grand Prix Commission, composed by Youthstream’s President Mr Giuseppe Luongo and CMS/FIM Director Dr Wolfgang Srb, met in Mies, Switzerland, on 23rd November 2012, and in a very positive atmosphere unanimously decided to adopt the following changes to the 2013 Regulations.

Mr Takanao Tsubouchi, MSMA Secretary General, could not attend the meeting, but the FIM received the MSMA position on the topics discussed. Mr Ignacio Verneda, FIM Executive Director Sports, also attended this meeting.

Application 01 January 2013

1. FIM MX1 & MX2 Motocross World Championships Regulations

For overseas FIM MX1 & MX2 World Championship events:

•MX1 & MX2 classes race together
•Maximum 40 riders: 15 MX1 riders + 15 MX2 riders + 10 additional riders regardless their class (MX1 or MX2)
•Classification per class

2. FIM MX1, MX2, MX3, Women’s Motocross World Championships, FIM Motocross of Nations & FIM Veteran Motocross World Cup Regulations

•Art. 5.11 Qualifying
In order to qualify for the Qualifying Race, a rider must achieve a time equal to at least 108% of the average time of the top 10 recorded during the Pre-Qualifying Practice.

The above-mentioned modification has been unanimously agreed by all manufacturers, factory teams, FIM and Youthstream. This new system will create outstanding high-quality racing for the fans on site and it will offer a more TV-friendly program. In addition, it will also help to bring the level of competition and show very high, having top 30 International riders and the remaining 10 will be made up of other European riders and local riders.

Besides, for the first two overseas events, Qatar and Thailand, Youthstream will give the following freight support to the teams in order to reduce their costs:

MX1
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 2 riders – total 600kg
Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1 – 2 riders – total 600kg
Monster Energy Yamaha – 2 riders – total 600 kg
Kawasaki Racing Team – riders – total 600kg
Honda World Motocross Team – 2 riders – total 600kg
LS Honda Racing – 2 riders – total 400 kg
Ricci TM Factory Team – 1 rider – total 200kg
CLS MX1 Monster Energy Pro-Circuit – 1 rider – total 200kg
Honda Gariboldi – 1 rider – total 200kg

MX2
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 2 riders – total 400kg
CLS MX1 Monster Energy Pro-Circuit – 2 riders – total 400kg
Monster Energy Yamaha Dixon – 2 riders – total 400 kg
Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe – 2 riders – total 400kg
Nestan JM Racing KTM – 2 riders – total 400kg
Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki – 2 riders – total 200kg
Ricci TM Factory Team – 1 rider – total 100kg
Honda Gariboldi – 1 rider – total 100kg
HM Plant KTM UK – 1 rider – total 100kg

In addition:
The 2012 European 250 Champion will receive 200kg
2nd in the 2012 European 250 Championship will receive 100kg
3rd in the 2012 European 250 Championship will receive 100kg
The 2012 European 125 Champion will receive 100kg

For the other two overseas events, in Brazil and Mexico, the division of the freight support will be based on the last Grand Prix event before the concerned overseas events (the top 10 MX1 with 300kg of freight each and from 11 to 15 MX1 with 200kg each; the top 10 MX2 with 200kg and from 11 to 15 with 100kg).

These decisions are made due to the world's significant change over the last few years, and there was a clear need for the FIM Motocross World Championship to adopt some changes in order to cope with the worldwide development.

Mr Giuseppe Luongo stated: “Some people might see this as a ‘revolution’, but in fact it is the right evolution to bring this FIM Motocross World Championship to become a ‘true’ World Championship: multi-cultural and multi-racial covering the entire world with it’s events. Changes often bring other changes and we see this moment the exact time to make other fundamental changes to adapt Motocross to this new era and affront the new challenges. It is imperative that Motocross becomes more attractive, with more emotions, and outstanding show for our fans of the world. Our programme needs to be understandable for the international viewers and easy to follow for the big TV networks. This is why we would like to propose some necessary and radical changes to the Motocross Grand Prix format.”

Youthstream strongly believes that this new system, which will be adopted in the 2013 overseas events, will be very successful, and if it reaches the established expectations in terms of show, costs, safety and TV coverage, Youthstream is planning to implement a similar format for the European Grand Prix events. However, due to the high number of participants in the European Grand Prix events and to give the middle and support teams the possibility to take part in the World Championship and to show their riders and sponsors, the format should be slightly modified:

Saturday
1. First free practice MX2
2. First free practice MX1
3. Second free practice MX2
4. Second free practice MX1
5. Qualifying race MX2
6. Qualifying race MX1

Sunday
1. Warm-up MX2
2. Warm-up MX1
3. Race 1 MX2 - 12h00
4. Race 1 MX1 - 13h00
5. Super-final MX1 / MX2 - 16h00
6. Podium - 16h50

Each class will have up to 40 riders and the points will be distributed as usual. After the first races of the Grand Prix the top 10 riders per class of the World Championship MX1 and MX2 classifications go directly to the super-final, in addition to these riders, the 10 best results from MX1 Race 1 and the 10 best results from MX2 Race 1 (after taking away the top 10 in the World Championship classifications) will also take part in the ‘super-final’ (making a total of 40 riders). In the super-final riders will score points relative to their championship.

There will be a podium with the top 3 riders of the super-final. In addition an MX2 podium will be held after the overall podium to promote the young.

Thanks to this new format, a part from broadcasting LIVE all the racing program on MX-LIFE.TV and on the strong Motocross orientated TV broadcasters, there will be the possibility to create 1 hour program full of racing at the highest level ever seen. The final product will be easier to understand to everybody, especially the young and new fans, and the big TV broadcasters, who are not particularly specialized in Motocross. This new program offers more support and visibility for the teams and riders who enter the entire FIM Motocross World Championship and for teams with a reduced budget Youthstream help them by not having the pressure to take part in the overseas Grand Prix events and they can concentrate on the European Grand Prix events and European Championship; meanwhile keeping open the possibility for every team with the budget and rider quality to enter the whole Grand Prix series.

The overseas events with this new, more modern format and the HD TV production will give a boost to our sport and it will permit the World Championship to have a much wider TV coverage, it will increase the interest from the fans and automatically the sponsors and it will help the manufacturers promote their motorcycles in all the motorcycle markets around the world.

A part from the changes to the 2013 Regulations, there will be the followingimportant improvements in the 2013 FIM Motocross World Championship:

•The TV production will be done in HD
• A covered waiting zone will be located behind the starting gate and on top of the waiting zone there will be a VIP area and podium incorporated, in this way all the first floor of the pit-lane will be in teams' colors and full disposal for the teams’ guests.
•To give more value to the European Championship and to help the young, YS will offer 200kg of freight for the 1st UEM 250, 100kg of freight to the 2nd and 3rd UEM 250 and for the 1st UEM 125 for the overseas events. In addition teams hosting these riders will not pay the contribution fee.
• For the safety reasons and for a higher level of competition the average times from the top 10 in the pre-qualifying practice will be taken and calculated at 108%, and the riders who are over this time will not be able to take part to the race. In extreme weather conditions the Event Management may decide to not use this rule (this rule will be enforced for all MX1 and MX2 Grand Prix events from 2013 – not for MXON, MX3, Women, Veteran or the European Championship).

Youthstream’s main objective is to develop – together with all the stakeholders – a new, modern and global Motocross, while the spirit of our sport remains unchanged: the greatest and most exciting off-road sport in the world!

LINKS
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