August 2002
Hello to all,
This newsletter has been a long time coming and there has been heaps
happening behind the Supermotard scene in Australia.
For starters in case you have had your head buried in the sand, the World
Supermoto Championships are coming to Australia on 9 ? 10 November at
Broadford. After having a successful European Championship for a couple of
years, Youthstream, a promoter, has taken on the task of bringing the SM to
the World.
For us here in Australia, it means we will get to see the Worlds best in
action. For some, it will be a chance to try to race with the Worlds best as
wildcards, and for others it will mean a chance to ride in support races in
front of a crowd larger than you have ever have before. Grandstands are
being temporarily brought in and trade stands will be set up. Pit sheds are
being installed and much of the pit area is being either bitumised, graded
or just tidied up for the event.
The track itself is nothing short of fantastic to ride, as many that have
tried it can attest to. Pricing for tickets has been aimed at bringing
families and giving great value for money. $45 for a two day grandstand seat
has to be accepted as bargain considering the prices paid at previous GP?s.
With Motorcycling Victoria promoting the GP event, its great enthusiasm for
motorcycling in general has come to fore. The ethic that I have now
experienced within MV is to bring this sport to the public and showcase it
for the betterment of not just Supermotard racing, but motorcycling for all.
TV coverage of the GP is also expected in early December but this is still
being negotiated and a TV ad will be produced early August to be aired in
October. Keep in touch if you want to be in the ad, footage from the 1
September Victorian Supermotard Cup event is expected to be used as well.
The wildcard situation is that Motorcycling Victoria anticipates that there
will be room for approximately up to 20 wildcards depending on overseas
rider?s attendance. Criteria will be based on grading from MA, previous
results in Supermotard meetings, acquiring an International lic through MA,
and the anticipated level of performance needed with both skill and
machinery, required to perform at a World Championship level decided by MV.
The anticipated junior Supermoto Championship has not happened as expected,
but this doesn?t mean juniors will be left out. There will be four support
classes available for competitors to enter, Juniors 13 ? 16 year olds,
Prestige, Sport and Clubman.
In an attempt to bring up to speed, officials and riders for the Australian
Supermoto GP, Supermotard Australia will conduct a Victorian Supermotard Cup
on 1 September 2002. It is a one off open event and all competitors are
invited to attend. This will be a perfect opportunity to prove your entry as
a wildcard for the GP and support events and an opportunity to ride the new
layout of the GP track.
Saturday 31 August 2002 requires a working bee to finish off some of the pit
shed roof, which is nearly fully constructed, so if you are committing the
weekend to SM and can spare a few hours contact me and we will accommodate
you. These commitments are usually undertaken by the usual mob from the
club, so lets give them a bit of a break, put your hand up and pitch in, we
only need 6 or so pairs of hands. You never know, when the works done, you
might even get to cut a few laps later in the day?
The main thing that will change for this series is that the Prestige and
Sport class entries must have 17" wheels. The Non expert class has been
dropped in favor of a all in race with qualifying races and final, the first
B and C grade rider will receive trophies as well being able to score in
their own B and C grade championship.
The Australian Supermotard series 2003 will be announced shortly, there is a
few issues regarding the track we are trying to use in QLD and obviously
these need to be sorted, the brief outline of the series is this
Rnd 1 Shepparton, Vic October 2002
Rnd 2 Broadford, Vic December 2002
Rnd 3 Oran Park, NSW January 2003
Rnd 4 QLD February 2003
Rnd 5 Wakefield Park, March 2003
The 2003 series gossip is that their is more bikes being prepared and more
riders hitting the tracks and with the new dates set in the summer, when
many of our o/s riders here, we anticipate some interesting wildcard riders.
You will find posted on the web an entry form for the Victorian Supermotard
Cup and please do not hesitate to return the entry as the grids will fill
fast. I have done it this way so email doesn't clog some of your mailboxes.
Feel free to give feedback as to how it works for you.
The best way to download this information after the page has loaded is this:
Press Ctrl+A (This highlights the whole entry form)
Press Ctrl+C (This copies the whole entry form)
Open Word Document
Press Ctrl+V (This pastes the whole entry form)
You can then adjust the pages accordingly and print the relevant pages to
return the entry.
Or after the page has loaded onto your browser, press Ctrl+P and then print
it directly from the web!
Good luck
Any questions on any thing Supermotard related are welcome.
Paul Caridi
Supermotard Australia
emmax@bigpond.com">gemmax@bigpond.com
www.supermotard.com.au
0409 52 10 34