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Alyssa RoenigkESPN
Supercross and Pro Motocross merge for the first time.
Feld Motor Sports and MX Sports Pro Racing, the promoters of the two models, announced a partnership on Tuesday to create continuity across the sport, adding a season-ending playoff. The tournament begins in 2023 and offers the most budget-friendly deals in motocross history.
“Motocross is 50 years old and Supercross is 50 years old in 2024,” said Dave Prater, Vice President of Supercross at Feld Motor Sports. “We share the same racing teams and athletes and now, we’ve finally come together. I believe we’ll be exponentially better than two separate championships.”
Superbike racing takes place on shorter, man-made tracks inside the stadium, while motocross races are held on longer, outdoor tracks. After the 17-race Supercross and 11-race Pro Motocross seasons, the top riders in both disciplines will compete in the first playoffs to win the sport’s first ever SuperMotocross World Championship. . Riders will compete for the $10 million, the largest sum in the sport’s history.
Davey Coombs, president of MX Sports Pro Racing, which manages the Pro Motocross Championship. “Supercross has been great at bringing our sports center into the heart of the city, where we’re in the spotlight. Outdoor motorcycling has been great at raising the bar for our sport. To end That together elevates us all.”
Following the Supercross and Pro Motocross seasons, the top 22 athletes in aggregate scores in both the 250cc and 450cc classes will be eligible to compete in a three-round SuperMotocross playoff on tracks designed to integrate the races. elements of both racing styles.
“There is an age-old debate about who is the best rider in the world: the Supercross champion or the Motocross champion,” Prater said. “We’re going to raise the stakes and bring both disciplines together on mixed races and answer that question.
“Our sport has never had a real playoff system or a Super Bowl. That’s what I’m most excited about, post-season and finishing high every year.”
The locations of the first two playoff races have yet to be announced, but the World Championships will take place on October 14, 2023, at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Supercross’s original home ground.
Fifty years ago, on July 8, 1972, a single event known as the Super Bowl of Motocross drew more than 29,000 people to the LA Coliseum and set the stage for the sport’s growth into Supercross in October. 1974. The inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship would mark the sport’s first race at the Colosseum in 25 years.
“The LA Arena is as meaningful to our sport as the Rose Bowl is to college football and Wrigley Field to baseball,” Coombs said. “It means so much to our past, it’s really special to incorporate it into our future.”
