The Making of the Monster Energy Cup: An Interview with Todd Jendro

AURORA, Ill. (June
8, 2011) – After announcing the Monster Energy Cup last month, Todd
Jendro, senior director of two-wheel operations for Feld Motor Sports^®,
and his team has turned their attention to building this one-of-a-kind
race that offers $1 Million. Jendro promises that this race will be a
completely unique mega event on October 15 inside Las Vegas’ Sam Boyd
Stadium.

After
the announcement in Vegas that the inaugural Monster Energy Cup was
coming to Sam Boyd Stadium on October 15, what are the next steps to put
the event together?

Jendro:
Right now we are full steam ahead on the production of this newly
created event. The beauty of the Monster Energy Cup is that we are not
bound by anything and we had a clean piece of paper to start with. We
just met with Sam Boyd Stadium facility on June 3^rd to
discuss logistics and operational possibilities as well as walking
through the event with our counterparts at the venue. Most of the
details have been finalized; it’s now about developing the on-site
structure and plan. That is our immediate goal right now. We are also in
the midst of confirming the world’s best riders at the moment.

What is the purse structure?

Jendro:
This is huge news! Any rider that wins all three main events will win
$1 Million. No doubt this carrot will create a lot of drama. The purse
of $250,000 will be split up based on each riders combined overall score
over the Three Main events with the overall winner walking away with a
check for $100,000. With a Quarter Million dollar purse and the riders
vying for a shot at the Monster Million this will definitely make things
interesting! We will also be announcing shortly additional bonus awards
for this event.

The format is different than a typical supercross race, how will classes be structure?

Jendro:
This is not your typical Supercross format. For starters it is an open
class format and the only two rules that must be met from the Supercross
rulebook are sound and fuel. You can run a 125cc, 250cc two stroke,
250cc four stroke, or a 450cc. You will be able to run what you want
based on what suits your riding style. This will also benefit the OEM’s,
because they will have the ability test future technology and collect
data for R&D. Who knows what we may see out on the track.

Also
new on the format front will be a three-stage main event. Riders
qualifying for the night’s main event will race three main events. After
the first main event, riders will line back up on the gate based on
their finishing order from main event one and the same for main event
two. Combined points from all three main events will give you an overall
score. Again any rider that wins all three main events will win $1
Million!

The
stars of the next generation and the stars of tomorrow, the Monster
Energy Cup will feature the Super-Mini class and the 250 A class,
respectively. The top 12 from each class plus three alternates from  
the AMA Loretta Lynn’s Amateur National Championships will make up the
starting grid for these special events.

The track will be different than a typical supercross too, what are the plans?

Jendro:
That’s right! The track is going to be a hybrid between Motocross and
Supercross unlike anything we have ever seen. The track will have a
tremendous amount of motocross-inspired obstacles and sections. Our goal
was not to make this another supercross event. This track will be
suited to a wide range of riders including international riders. The
track itself will also be developed for the Open Class concept. We will
create obstacles, corners, and the start straight to help the 250cc
machines competing against the 450cc machines.

I
know you can’t say now, but there is going to be an announcement about
some collaboration on building the track with some top riders.

Jendro:
We are going to make an announcement shortly. They are two of the
biggest names in the sport, and we look forward to having them involved
with this race. We believe with what these two icons draft up will
really create this new, unique motocross inspired track in a stadium
environment.

It’s
going to be a very exciting process ahead. This track is going to be
something unique and really different.  Trying to accomplish this in a
stadium environment is obviously difficult when you’re talking about a
rectangle. We have a lot of ideas and thought about how we are going to
transform a stadium into a motocross and Supercross environment. Those
ideas could be we are going to have a 200-foot-long sand straight that
is un-groomed and untouched and gnarly as hell, it could mean elevation,
it could mean elevated staring gate and host of different ideas. In the
coming week we are going to start that design process with them and it
is going to be fun to do.

Tickets
for the 2011 Monster Energy Cup can be purchased at the Thomas &
Mack Center Box Office, the Galleria at Sunset, all Stations and Fiesta
Casinos, online at www.UNLVtickets.com, www.supercrossonline.com or by phone at (866) 8-FINALS. Tickets will be available at the Sam Boyd Stadium Box Office on the day of the event only.

About Feld Motor Sports^®