"The FIM
Red Bull Motocross of Nations is the greatest and most prestigious off-road motorcycle event of the year," stated Wolfgang Srb, CMS president. "It is the only occasion where the best riders in the world come together and compete with great pride and enthusiasm for their [national] colours. As the showcase of Motocross, this event deserves to be staged at the best circuits in the world. I am happy that Donington Park was selected to host this event."
Donington, famous for its annual
MotoGP and WSBK events, made its motocross 'debut' last season, when it hosted a successful British Grand Prix on a challenging, if artificial track, built inside the road racing circuit.
It was thought that the venue would become the new home for the British Motocross Grand Prix - so it was something of a surprise when the 2008 MX1/MX2 calendar revealed that Foxhills will host the British round instead.
However, Donington will now return in style, having reached an agreement with FIM promoter Youthstream to host the biggest single event in world championship Motocross.
"We received very positive feedback from our grand prix last August, in what was a pilot event for us to ascertain what motocross was all about," said Robert Fearnall, circuit director. "It was always our intention to host more top motocross events when we had made more evaluation of the projects, and now we will be working extremely hard to build a larger fan base for motocross, which is an amazing, thrill-packed spectacular, by taking it to our large road-racing audiences in putting together exhibition races at both the British Motorcycle Grand Prix, and the World Superbike Championship meeting.
"This should take the show to a whole new audience and attract a spectator audience that the event deserves, given the quality of the show it provides," Fearnall concluded.
The Motocross of Nations was last held in the UK in 2006, when the facilities at Matterley Basin were overwhelmed by the shear number of fans present.
