MXGP

MONACO (Principality of Monaco), 22 July 2016 - After a successful collaboration with Fiat Professional as the title sponsor of the FULLBACK MXGP of Great Britain and the FULLBACK MXGP of Lombardia-Italy, Fiat Professional will serve the same role for the MXGP of Belgium. The fourteenth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship that is set to take place at the gnarliest sand circuit in the world, Lommel, on the 30^th and 31^st of July will now be officially known as the Fiat Professional MXGP of Belgium.

Fiat Professional has had a rewarding relationship with MXGP since the beginning of the season and has strengthened that bond as the title sponsor of the MXGP rounds of Great Britain and Lombardia-Italy. Just as it did in Great Britain and Italy, Fiat Professional will receive extra coverage for optimum advertising of their fantastic vehicles at the Fiat Professional MXGP of Belgium.

At each and every European round of the FIM Motocross World Championship, Fiat Professional have an exhibition area where their products can be viewed. There is also at least one MXGP branded Fiat Professional FULLBACK, which has received an awesome response from the public and MXGP personnel. In addition, at some selected events Fiat Professional ran a photo contest, ‘Motocross and Camper’, where two lucky winners won 4 x VIP passes and a ‘Living Area’ pass which allowed them to camp in the same area that the riders camp and enjoy an ultimate MXGP experience in the paddock with a fresh gourmet breakfast served to them. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/fiatprofessional/videos/10154143972041047/

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FIAT Professional

News has broken that Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Antonio Cairoli will be switching from the KTM450SX-F to the KTM350SX-F this weekend at Loket for the MXGP of Czech Republic. Check out this epic battle between Tony & the championship leader, Honda Gariboldi's Tim Gajser, here: 

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Pic: Ray Archer

Video: www.MXGP-TV.com

MONACO (Principality of Monaco), 22 July 2016 - The Monster Energy SMX Riders’ Cup will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s essentially a motocross race featuring the world’s fastest dirt-bike riders, from anywhere in the world, that will take place inside the world renowned VELTINS-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany on the evening of October 08.

Being a VIP guest will be your best bet at having the ultimate night out! As a VIP guest you will have access to the venue AND the paddock where all the teams will be preparing their bikes (there will also be plenty of action and activities happening inside the paddock throughout the day and the night on Saturday the 8^th). You will also have access to the Paddock VIP Restaurant for a gourmet buffet style lunch between the hours of 12pm and 3pm. From 1pm to 6pm you can enjoy drinks at the VIP Stadium Lounge Blauer Salon before sitting down to another gourmet dinner, which can be enjoyed at anytime after 6pm until the end of the event.

As a VIP guest you will also have the chance to meet the riders in a ‘Meet & Greet’ scenario, which will take place from 3pm to 6pm. And of course you will receive a special goodies bag as well as VIP parking access at the stadium.

VIP Tickets to the Monster Energy SMX Riders’ Cup are now available for purchase here: http://smxschalke.motocross-viptickets.com/en/13661-smx/

And click HERE to watch the first episode of the Monster Energy Riders’ Cup series featuring Teams and Riders.

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SMX

Gariboldi Honda rider Tim Gajser continues to get stronger and stronger. It is still funny to think at the start of the season when I spoke with HRC representative Roger Harvey about his rider’s changes in 2016. While Harvey didn’t want to get carried away, he felt Gajser was ready to be competitive straight away.

“When I asked him how he would do in 2016, or what he expected,” Harvey said. “He gave me a little smile, and didn’t really say much, but I could tell he was confident and expected to be running up front.”

As for Gajser, while he was always confident, he himself could never have expected the season to go as it has. A GP win in his debut MXGP race was more than he ever hoped for.

“I came into this season as the MXGP rookie,” Gajser said. “Like in Qatar, I didn’t expect a lot, I went there without any goal and of course I expected to do well, but I went there with the aim to just ride, have fun and enjoy myself. That is the key and every race I enter and every race I enter in the future, like Lommel and Loket, I will just go to these races to have fun, that is the key to winning.

What Gajser didn’t like was seeing his major rival Romain Febvre crashing out of the Grand Prix of Great Britain, and missing a couple of GPs.

“You know, as a rider you don’t want anyone to get injured and that is the sport, and it can happen to anyone. Every time you go out there you are risking injury. I want to wish him a quick recovery and I wish to see him back on the bike soon.”

What the Slovenian has tried to do in 2016 is get over his rivals mentally, and to be honest, it seems like some of the leading MXGP riders have been a little stung by the all-out speed of the Honda rider.

“I think that is the most important thing (mentally beating your rivals), because I believe everything is in the head. The win is in the head, you have to believe you can win before the gate drops and it is the most important part, also of all sports, just not motocross.”

Now onto Loket, where Gajser has performed well in the past. The slick circuit is perfect for his very good skills of throttle control, and as we move close to the end of the season you can be sure the fun will only get bigger and bigger for the always likeable Gajser.

While it is a couple of months away interest for the 2016 Monster Energy Motocross of Nations is building. Of course it will be held at the famous Maggiora circuit in Italy, and while no teams have actually been picked yet, team managers are busy with looking at their final selections, which usually happen in the next month.

Team France as always have a long list of riders capable of doing the job in defending the title they won in 2015. Of course names like Romain Febvre, Gautier Paulin, Dylan Ferrandis, Marvin Musquin, Christophe Pourcel, and Benoit Paturel. Febvre and Paulin both have won moto’s in this event and also the team event, and of course Marvin Musquin and Dylan Ferrandis have also been involved in a winning team.

Team Belgium might be struggling a little at the moment with Clement Desalle coming back from injury, Kevin Strijbos, Julien Lieber, and Ken De Dycker all injured, and only really Jeremy Van Horebeek in good form. It is always hard to leave the Belgians out of the picture though, and no doubt when the time comes, hopefully Desalle, Strijbos and Van Horebeek will be fit to race for their country.

Team USA will have no problems bringing a strong team. Sure Ryan Dungey is out injured, but Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb, Jeremy Martin and Justin Barcia are all in line for team selection. An outsider is Joey Savatgy, although it’s hard not to see last year’s team come, but they have to fit Tomac in there somewhere.

Team Australia is looking likely to be top two in the MX1 championship, so either Dean Ferris, Todd Waters or Kirk Gibbs, and the MX2 champion, who could be Nathan Crawford, Jed Beaton or Caleb Ward. No Chad Reed or Brett Metcalfe as the new era comes in for the Aussies.

Team Great Britain will be solid once again with their top three being, Tommy Searle, Shaun Simpson, and Max Anstie, while Adam Sterry, Conrad Mewse, and Jake Nicholls should be in the selection group.

Ken Roczen has mentioned he would like to race the MXoN this year, and if he did Team Germany would again be a contender with Roczen, Max Nagl and possibly Jacobi, Henry, Dennis Ullrich, or Brian Hsu.

Team Switzerland have three big names who should be picked if fit in, Valentin Guillod, Jeremy Seewer and Arnaud Tonus. On the hard pack of Maggiora this guys could even be an outside team for a victory.

Team The Netherlands will have a strong line-up with Jeffrey Herlings, Glenn Coldenhoff, Davey Pootjes and Brian Bogers in the selection group.

Russia are also strong if their lead three riders are fit, with Evgeny Bobryshev, Vsevolod Brylyakov and Aleksandr Tonkov. All podium guys in 2016 and all will perform will at a circuit like Maggiora.

Unfortunately, riders like Antonio Cairoli, Tim Gajser, and Pauls Jonass, won’t have as much support from their fellow countrymen as Italy, Slovenia and Latvia, as those countries always struggle to have three top level riders.

The Italian-Czech society M.C.F.cz, s.r,o. which has the headquarter in Slusovice, Czech Republic, is the owner of the brand CZ. Alessandro Ferrari who is the owner of the company and a big fan of motocross has prepared a 300cc two-stroke bike with the CZ brand to compete the European Championship EMX300 in Loket.

The brand CZ will be back on the motocross scene after 30 years.

This bike has Italian technology and it was finalised in Czech Republic with Czech components.

Between 1958 and 1983 the brand CZ was in the FIM Motocross World Championship with the official Team ČZ Strakonice. The CZ was very strong with the two-strokes but in 1958 the company started with the four-stokes, unsuccessfully.

The CZ factory riders achieved a total of 7 world titles: In 250cc the Belgian Joel Robert won 3 titles in 1964, 1968 and 1969 and one title was won by the Russian, Victor Arbekov in 1965. In the 500cc’s, 3 titles were won by the German rider Paul Friedrichs. In 1975 then the Czech Republic Team composed by Antonin Baborovký, Jiri  Churavý, Miroslav Novacek  and Zdenek Velky won the Motocross des Nations and that was the biggest success for Czech republic in motocross.

The last time a CZ bike was competing in the FIM Motocross World Championship was in 1985 at its home GP in Holice. The production of this bike stopped in 1991.

In those years big names such as Roger de Coster, Gaston Rahier, Sylvain Geboers, Jaroslav Falta, Miroslav Soucek, Vlastimil Valek, Petr Buono, George Stodůlka, Otakar Toman, Vladimir Kavínová, Guennadi Moisseev and many others rode a CZ bike. 

MONACO (Principality of Monaco), 20 July 2016 – The Russian Educational Children’s Center “Orlyonok” will be the perfect venue to host the FIM Junior Motocross World Championship in 2016 and the second edition of the Ride Green Cup, which is focused on raising awareness and encouraging the environmental education of young riders, teams, family and fans in their communities and countries. The Ride Green Cup is part of a series of sustainable projects promoted by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) across its various world and regional championships.

This year the Ride Green Cup will be presented with the full support of the “Orlyonok” Centre, the Motorcycle Federation of Russia and YouthStream, and coordinated by the FIM. The organisers of the contest have incorporated new activities that promote positive environmental behaviour both in and out of competition, as reflected in the slogan:  “Your Eco Style: Start with yourself!”.

The contest was launched just last year during the FIM Junior Motocross World Championship and it was the Spanish team who won the Cup for the first time due to their promotion of the green behaviour, compliance with the FIM´s environmental code, promotion of electric bikes and sharing of some very participative messages on social media.

This year the competition for the Ride Green Cup is based on the “6 R strategy”: Rethink, Review, Repair, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The organisers believe that with this strategy, anyone can help to reduce the waste problem and contribute towards a “zero waste event”.

The Cup will reward the team that best complies with a series of requirements concerning their environmental behaviour inside and outside the track and also promotes this behaviour among the sports and fans circle. The winning team will be invited to the podium to receive the award.

The jury will be composed by personalities and experts on the environment

Ignacio Verneda, FIM CEO

The FIM has a responsibility towards young people, not only in terms of sporting matters, safety and fair play, but also to show them the path to sustainable sport. In 1996 the FIM launched the first Environmental Code and in 2014 we started the Ride Quiet campaign focused on minimising sound emissions and educating motocross riders to take action to reduce such emissions, especially outside the circuits.

In 2015 the FIM started the Ride Green Cup and we are very pleased because through environmental education designed for our younger riders in an amusing and competitive way we are raising awareness and establishing actions that lead to the sport being more sustainable. We want to see our sport become a vehicle for these values and good practices, which can also be applied at home. In this way, the riders serve as examples for their community.

Alexander Dzheus, President of the Motorcycle Federation of Russia  

In accordance with the accepted international principles of the environmental education and sustainable development issues of our Planet, we share the aim of the Ride Green Cup participants to use complex innovative technologies and nature-friendly behaviour during the championships and sports events.

We consider participation in the Ride Green Cup as a basis for long-term development of the young teams, which includes an environment component in their training sessions and competitions. Through appealing events and actions, the participants in the Ride Green Cup 2016 will motivate young sportsmen. They will know how to be a global citizens and educated people who can gradually carry forward the traditions and values of environmental culture.

We invite you to join the 2016 Ride Green Cup 2016 and to become a part of the world community of young and experienced riders who demonstrate an active position and promote environment-friendly actions under the motto: “Your eco-style: Start with yourself!”.

Giuseppe Luongo, YouthStream President

The 'Ride Green Cup' is an important project which has been launched by FIM with Youthstream's full support. It is our duty to educate the younger motocross generation about the importance of sustainability; you can enjoy the best sport in the world while taking care of the environment. A lot of work has been done by FIM and YouthStream over the last years to reduce the noise levels and improve the paddock waste accommodations to fully respect the nature. We will continue to support FIM with this initiative and we thank the Russian Federation and Orlyonok for their support. 

LINKS

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FIM Europe

LOKET (Czech Republic), 20 July 2016 – The 2016 MXGP series will return to action this weekend at the old school clay track of Loket in the Czech Republic, this weekend for round thirteen of the FIM Motocross World Championship. With twelve rounds already in the bag, it’s a six round race to conclusion, starting right here, right now in Loket. A track that made it’s grand prix debut back in 1995 and has since hosted 19 grand prix’. Joel Smets, a familiar face in the paddock as the rider mentor at KTM, was the first ever winner here and he did it on a beasty Husaberg 500.

Loket has been good to a number of riders. Antonio Cairoli, Romain Febvre, Kevin Strijbos, Clement Desalle, Gautier Paulin, Jeffrey Herlings, Valentin Guillod, David Philippaerts and Jeremy Van Horebeek are some of the riders that have been victorious at this track. So who will make a break for it following the break? We are about to find out!

The European Championship EMX300 presented by FMF Racing will also be lining up for the fifth round of their series, while most exciting part of the weekend, in terms of the European Championships, will be watching the future stars racing 85cc and 65cc do battle on the world stage for the final rounds of their EMX85 and EMX65 championships.

Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser. What can be said that hasn’t been said already? The kid is crushing it and looks to be the safest bet for the title this year. Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Romain Febvre should be back this weekend, and is likely to be Tim’s biggest problem, even though it doesn’t have to be since he has a massive points lead. But, if there is one thing we have learned about Tim Gajser, is that he has an all or nothing riding style and he races to the flag regardless of what is on the line. As for Romain, it will be good to have him back after his ugly crash at the FULLBACK MXGP of Great Britain.

While Tim and Romain have been dominating the MXGP class more often than not, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli has captilized on Febvre’s error and is now sitting second in the championship standing. Tony has proved on a few occasions he has the goods, and feels as though he has some unfinished business in the premier class. He is 92 points down on Gajser, so his goal may no longer be ‘winning the championship’ but instead, rounding out the season in winning form.

Another rider who is looking to bounce back is Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Clement Desalle, also known as the ‘MX Panda’. The MX Panda could really use a win before the season is out, as he has been smacking his head against the wall this year with an array of injuries suffocating his speed. In saying that, the Kawasaki ace finally made it onto the box at the FULLBACK MXGP of Lombardia-Italy, which could be a sign of danger for the rest of the guys in MXGP especially since he loves this track as the venue at which he landed on the box for the first time in his career and has also won two grand prix’ here, 2009 and 2013.

Team HRC’s Gautier Paulin is also fond of the hard clay here in Loket. He won the MX2 grand prix here in 2009 and is known to have impeccable throttle control which works well on this kind of surface. Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy Van Horebeek is in the same boat. In fact, back in 2014 he won his first and only MXGP round right here!

Also look out for Kemea Yamaha Official MX Team’s Valentin Guillod. He was the winner of the grand prix here in Loket last year, in the MX2 class, and also won here in the European Championship’s premier class, the EMX250 back in 2013.

As for the ‘Yellow’ guys, Team Suzuki World MXGP, Kevin Strijbos should be back this weekend, which is exciting for him as a two-time grand prix winner here. He will also be joined by Arminas Jasikonis, a young gun fresh out of Lithuania, who will be making his MXGP debut.

2015 MXGP of Czech Republic, Loket, MXGP Top 3

1. Romain Febvre
2. Evgeny Bobryschev
3. Clement Desalle

MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 532 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 440 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 408 p.; 4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 401 p.; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 396 p.; 6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 351 p.; 7. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 267 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 230 p.; 9. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 212 p.; 10. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 210 p.

The numbers don’t lie. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings is as close as you’ll get to untouchable. He doesn’t throw it all on the line in qualifying, yet he has gone pole 9 times from 15 starts, he’s led a whopping 327 from 426 laps in the main events, he has won 23 from 24 races, and has topped the box at every single round. He now leads the championship by 169 points and looks well on his way to claiming his third MX2 world title. But, before you get too carried away and hand the crown to him, it is July, a month that has been the end of season for him in the last two years, both times due to freak accidents.

Jeff is hands down the fastest MX2 rider in the world right now and has already stated on Social Media that he will be making the jump to MXGP next year, so he deserves this title although lady luck has already came and given him a bop on the head, he broke his collar-bone in the summer break. It’s not yet confirmed if he will be racing or not, he has said that he will see a doctor this week for a final check up.

Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Dylan Ferrandis is still the only rider to have beaten The Bullet in a race this year. Dylan has proved time after time that he can run the pace; he just needs to get a good start and keep it on two wheels. The same can be said for Team Suzuki World MX2’s Jeremy Seewer. After a seven round podium streak at the start of the season, Jeremy has only cracked the box once in the last five rounds. The young Swiss rider has the pace, he is just pushing ‘too’ hard at the moment, trying to find a way to stop Herlings’ dominance.

Seewer is currently second in the championship 25 points clear of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pauls Jonass who is doing his best to claw back those points and defend his silver vice-world champion crown.

HSF Logistics Motorsports Brian Bogers hit a bunch of career milestones at the FULLBACK MXGP of Lombardia-Italy with his best ever race finish and best ever overall finish. The Dutchman may have his work cut out for him this weekend with Loket being rock hard, although he can remain calm because the following weekend we will be in Lommel, the gnarliest sand track in the world, for the Fiat Professional MXGP of Belgium, and that place will suit him down to the ground!

2015 MXGP of Czech Republic, Loket, MX2 Top 3

1. Valentin Guillod
2. Pauls Jonass
3. Jordi Tixier

MX2 Championship Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 597 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 428 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 403 p.; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 325 p.; 5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 320 p.; 6. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 308 p.; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 274 p.; 8. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 253 p.; 9. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 253 p.; 10. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 219 p.

All the photos of the MXGP of Czech Republic will be available HERE

TIMETABLE

Saturday: EMX300 Free/Timed Practice 08:10; EMX65 Free/Timed Practice 08:50; EMX65 Free/Timed Practice 09:30; MX2 Free Practice 10:15; MXGP Free Practice 10:45; EMX300 Race 1 12:30; EMX65 Race 1 13:15; MX2 Time Practice 14:00; MXGP Time Practice 14:35; EMX85 Race 1 15:20; MX2 Qualifying Race 16:10; MXGP Qualifying Race 17:00.

Sunday: EMX300 Race 2 08:50; EMX65 Race 2 09:50; MX2 Warm up 10:25; MXGP Warm up 10:45; EMX85 Race 2 11:30; MX2 Race 1 13:15; MXGP Race 1 14:15; MX2 Race 2 16:10; MXGP Race 2 17:10.

LINKS

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FIM

MXGP of Czech Republic

Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Official MXGP Team rider Romain Febvre marked his first return to active motocross since a heavy crash at Matterley Basin in June with a double-moto win at Iffendic on Sunday and a confidence-building weekend ahead of next week's MXGP of the Czech Republic in Loket.

Febvre brought his Yamaha YZ450FM to the French Motocross Championship's final round at Iffendic over the weekend, to line up at the MX1 Elite starting gate on a hot day in Brittany, just west of Rennes.

Febvre has been recovering from a heavy crash suffered during the first moto at the FULLBACK MXGP of Great Britain, which saw the 2015 FIM Motocross World Champion evacuated to a local hospital for observation and tests, but no serious bodily injuries. The extended time needed to recover meant Febvre missed valuable points during his absence from the starting gate in the UK and following week in Lombardia.

With the physical recuperation well underway, Febvre was the guest of honor over the weekend at Iffendic, and did not disappoint the passionate French motocross fans. Winning both hole-shots and both motos, Romain's Grand Prix bona fides pleased the crowd and placed him atop the winner's pedestal.

At Loket Febvre will resume his championship defense from where he currently sits in third overall, 32 points behind 2nd-place Italian Antonio Cairoli and seven points ahead of German rider Max Nagl in 4th.

Romain Febvre said: "Before the weekend I wasn't even sure I would go to Iffendic. I only started riding again last week, and things were better but not perfect. But I felt much better on the bike at the end of the week, and we made the plans to enter at Iffendic and get in some good practice before Loket."

"I didn't plan much during the week, because I needed to get back to riding, to see how it goes. Now after Iffendic I need to go to Belgium and ride in the sand to prepare for Lommel, and I'm busy every week until the end of the month because I lost a little last month."

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In the mean time watch some of these vids:  

A crazy battle between Antonio Cairoli and Tim Gajser

Gautier Paulin's scary crash in the Qualifying Race at the MXGP of France

Ryan Villopoto's crash at the MXGP of Trentino last year

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