FIM confirms GP calendars for 2011
By TMX Archives on 1st Nov 10
WORLD Championship motocross will return to the UK next year on August 20/21 when Matterley Basin, near Winchester, will host the 13th of the 15-round World MX1/MX2 series the World Vets and the European 125cc series are also on the programme, writes ALEX HODGKINSON.
The calendar, issued last weekend at the FIM Congress in Macau, holds few surprises, but was waited with eager anticipation after series promoter Youthstream had announced earlier in the year that it would avoid any date clashes with the AMA (and World) Supercross series.
It has been known for a couple of months that the initial plan to run the GPs from mid-May to mid-October has been retracted, indeed the first GP in Bulgaria is on April 10 with the series finale in Italy on September 11, but there is still only one weekend when GP and World Supercross are both on the schedule as only two rounds of the outdoor series take place before mid-May and one of those is on the ‘SX-free' Easter weekend.
With no-one having indicated their wish to contest both the 450cc SX class and the GPs, the clash of Bulgaria and the St Louis Supercross is of little consequence.
There is no overlapping at all between the West Coast Lites series and the GPs, so Germany's Ken Roczen will be free to contest all rounds of both series, his tightest schedule being to get from Valkenswaard on April 25 to the Salt Lake City SX five-days later.
For the first time since 1988 a solo GP will be run on a Bank Holiday Monday, indeed both Easter and Whit are on the schedule as Portugal welcomes the world circus on the Continental early summer holiday weekend, and the Sidecars have races on both Easter and Whit Monday, both dates taken up by traditional races at Frauenfeld in Switzerland and Brou in France.
What will concern the teams and national championship promoters most is the heavy schedule once the GPs return from their overseas trip to California and Brazil in May – from the French GP on June 4/5 until the series finale in Italy on September 10/11, there will be 11 MX1/MX2 GPs in the space of 15 weekends.
This will offer little time for riders to overcome minor injuries or to recharge their batteries.
In addition this run of events will surely have a detremental effect on National domestic Championships as few GP front-liners are likely to welcome a national race on any of the four free weekend dates!
Generally the calendar is little changed from 2010, the Iberian tour moved from May to June to make way for Glen Helen and Brazil, and the northern tour re-jigged as Uddevalla could not move from its early July date, so the Swedish GP takes place before Germany and Latvia.
Three-rounds at present lack a venue, but this should give no cause for concern. The Brazilian GP is not in danger, but the local promoter is seeking the best solution and rumour has it he may move again to one of the countries major cities.
As is usual, DBO in Italy is still in negotiation with several circuits, but, after the successful return to GP action last year, Fermo, with its first class but tight paddock area, must be favourite, particularly as only one support class is envisaged.
The date of the penultimate GP on September 3/4 is the traditional date of Lierop. Indeed the Dutch announced at their GP last month that they had a new contract for 2011 on that date, but haggling over the level of the contract fee paid to Youthstream has endangered this round for several years.
Youthstream, presumably, has high hopes of an alternative organiser/ venue, and the weekend programme is interesting with no less than FIVE classes on the programme!
The World Ladies series is, as expected, banished to the MX3 scene, the only round scheduled to run alongside MX1/MX2 is the opener in Bulgaria.
At least the girls do not have to go overseas, indeed one wonders how many ‘amateurs' will contest the entire MX3 series with three races in South America and the only round of 13 in central Europe being the Swiss round in September. Even the German round is on the Polish border at Schwedt.
The World Veteran contenders have a less expensive programme with only six-rounds, though this includes Glen Helen (USA) and Latvia.
The Sidecar competitors will welcome the return of the Frauenfeld venue to the fixture list as well as Brou, though both of them are on a Monday – which is not so good for teams who still have to work to finance their racing – which is the majority in the chair scene. More worrying is the Ukraine GP, which is on it's own in May, and the Russian GP at Kamensk-Uralsky, which is over 1,900kms east of Moscow!
For the first time ever the World Junior takes place on a ‘GP-free' weekend at Cingoli in Italy, but GP points-scorers are not allowed to compete.
The move is to allow the participation of young riders from the European series.