The World Championship

The FIM Motocross World Championship celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007 and still represents the most dynamic and skilful off-road racing activity on the planet. Exceptional levels of control and courage are required in the blur of speed, mud and ‘air-time’ that constitutes the quest for the Motocross MX1 and MX2 class’ world crowns. The 2010 series will visit 13 countries and will witness an outstanding competition as the fittest and most talented riders on the planet battle to be the Motocross World Champion. The Championship represents the cream of a popular sport which has terrific grass roots support and participation worldwide.

What is Motocross?

In no other form of motorsport can the public get so close to the action. Riders are literally jumping five, ten and fifteen metres high and almost within touching distance of race fans! While the sport appeals to a great many of the younger generation who yearn to be ' dirt bike heroes ' themselves.

The Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) defines motocross racing as: ‘A Motocross meeting is a cross country meeting on a circuit with natural obstacles’. In truth this fairly basic description does not tell even a fraction of the story… :

• Motocross originated from the off-road pastime of scrambling and the first organised World Championship was held in 1957.
• Motocross is a technical discipline, as well as placing emphasis on speed and horsepower. Jumps and obstacles form a circuit that can consist of a range of terrain from sand, fine dirt to hard-pack. The air-time and obvious risks not only make it very spectacular – thus an avidly followed spectator sport - but also serve to push the man-machine combination to the limit. The ‘accessibility’ of motocross is one of the sport’s major advantages and means that it has a sizeable fan base.
• The classes for the FIm World Championship are defined as:
  • MX1 – Maximum 450cc four-stroke
  • MX2 – Maximum 250cc four-stroke (with an age limit of below 23)
• Few sports push athletes to the human limits as professional motocross. It is one of the most demanding and gruelling in the world.
• Point scoring positions are - 25 points for the first position, 22 for second place, 20 for third, 18, 16, 15 and so on down to a single point for 20th.

A Grand Prix

A Grand Prix consists of two races per class, commonly called ‘motos’. The motos last 35 minutes and 2 laps each and riders score points ranking from 1st to 20th. At the end of the second moto total points are combined for an overall winner and top three. The World Championship season last fifteen rounds and a World Champion is crowned in each category as the rider with the most points at the conclusion of the campaign.

The riders fill the gate on Sunday according to their positions from Saturday’s qualification. As the starter draws the riders to the ‘30’ then ‘5’ second board, they block everything else out of their minds because to release the clutch a fraction of a second too early could easily see them ram the metal (drop backwards) start-gate trapping the front wheel and losing valuable seconds.