The crunch is upon US!
By TMX Archives on 15th Jan 09
THE US GP has been cancelled, and hardly anybody can envisage that the Brazilian GP will go ahead without America to share the costs.Official confirmation is still awaited from Youthstream and the FIM, but the leading teams and sponsors were advised of the US cancellation, the latest victim of the global financial crisis, in a mail from Youthstream president Giuseppe Luongo last week. The reaction of Burkhardt Sarholz mirrored that of all his fellow team owners: It is sad news for the expansion of the series worldwide, but it is a great relief to our budgets in the present financial climate. The cost of sending each rider to just a single overseas GP is in excess of 15,000 Euros.
The effect on the calendar is still awaited. Should Brazil also drop out, it would clearly make sense to bring forward the Nations from its current date in October, and, should other GPs also fall by the wayside and Paddock Radio believes a couple more are in serious danger there could well be some last-minute date switches should a large gap appear in the summer schedule.
But a World Series restricted to Europe an occurrence that last happened 2003 when Dorna was promoter is once again on the cards.
This will be a slap in the face for FIM President Vito Ippolito, who has called openly for a world series to cover all continents, but it is a trend that is unavoidable in the current economic climate.