On the occasion of the start of the 2008 FIM Motocross World Championship season, FIM and the FIM Motocross World Championship promoter, Youthstream, announced the birth of an ambitious project - the FIM Pro-Am Team World Cup.
This event will focus on teams created by each manufacturer with each team made up of their three best pro riders and the best amateur rider. The first ever FIM Pro-Am Team World Cup will take place in September 2009 in the United States.
The FIM Pro-AM Team World Cup consists of one round per year, starting on Wednesday until Sunday, and it will be held on one sole venue. Each manufacturer will carry out a selection process of all entered amateur riders to finally end up with the best who will join the team with the three previously chosen professional riders. Each manufacturers’ amateur selection will take place on a dedicated branded race track from Wednesday until Friday, therefore there will be at least eight branded race tracks (Aprilia, Husqvarna, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Suzuki, TM and Yamaha) built around the main race track which will be host to the main event taking part on Saturday and Sunday.
Each of the branded tracks will be host to bike testing sessions for the public, presentations, exposition shows, side events (such as amateur Supercross races), live music and many other exciting attractions.
This event will create a direct link between the professional and the amateur worlds and will give amateur riders the chance to realise their dream of battling it out alongside the world’s best factory riders. The FIM Pro-Am Team World Cup will be a milestone in the history of the sport.
Youthstream President Giuseppe Luongo commented: “When I was a young amateur rider my dream was to one day race alongside riders like Michele Rinaldi, Eric Geboers and Ricky Johnson, unfortunately this was never an opportunity. Now with the concept we transform the dream of every amateur into a reality”.
Luongo continued: “This is a perfect chance for the manufacturers to show their products to the public and it allows everyone to be able to try the new models. Customers will be linked to the factory teams and pro riders. This project is win, win for everyone and in a moment of world economical difficulty we have managed to offer a wonderful product to manufacturers and public at a very low price. We will have worldwide television coverage (live and delayed - similar to the FIM Motocross of Nations) including a main-stream US television channel.”
“It’s an exciting project and I can’t wait to see it unravel into reality,” Luongo ended.
