GP seminar discusses noise, track standards...

The 2006 Supermoto and Motocross World Championship organisers' seminar took place recently in Saint Laurent du Var, where ideas and new rulings were discussed ahead of the grand prix season.

Wolfgang SRB (FIM Motocross president), Giuseppe Luongo (Youthstream president), Dave Nicoll (FIM Motocross race director), Marc Pauwels (FIM Supermoto race director) and several Youthstream representatives - such as Guido Becchis (marketing director), Mireille Daumas (Television general manager), Nikos Gounaris (director) and Pascal Haudiquert (Press co-ordinator) - explained the new rules and the main changes in the regulations to the attendance.

In addition, there were many discussions and explanations between the organisers and the authorities, and each grand prix organiser had the opportunity to present their event to their colleagues.

"It's important to see everybody working together, the organisers, Youthstream and the FIM," said Wolfgang SRB. "Meetings like that make a lot of sense, we share ideas, visions, we explain the ways how we see the development of the world championships.

"We got an excellent response from the organisers, we have the feeling that everyone wants to make the best race of the year. It's a positive competition that I like so much; every organiser work really hard to run the best GP of the year. That's wonderful.

"The atmosphere of the meeting was really good, it's easy as everyone is relaxed. We talked a lot, laugh together, everyone was like friends talking about their number one hobby," added the president of the Motocross commission.

"Year after year this seminar is improving a lot, and it's important for us to talk and exchange ideas with our partners," explained Luongo. "We need to have a good and strong co-operation with the organizers, and honestly I think that we reach now a high level in our relationship.

"I would take as an example the track preparation; it has been really difficult for us to change the mentalities of the organisers, but now all of them accept the advice of Greg Atkins, our track designer. Some organisers even ask Greg to come and build their track!

"One year ago it was impossible, as most of the clubs had a long experience and wanted to do as they were used. Finally, we proved in the second part of the 2005 season that Greg knows better than anyone how to prepare a track, and we had some exciting GPs on safe and technical tracks," added the president of Youtshtream.

Concerning Motocross, one of the main decisions for the future is to reduce the noise limit of the bikes. For 2006 the limit has been reduced from 98 to 96 decibels.

"It's a really important question for our sport, as we got more and more complaints about the noise. All the federations will have to send their best technical staff on the events, as there will be no tolerance about this matter. Nobody can discuss the FIM rules; industry, riders, promoters and teams know the rules and must respect them strictly," announced doctor SRB, who also confirmed that whoops are forbidden on a Motocross track.

Concerning the events, Sweden revealed that they have started a three year program to improve the Uddevalla facilities, Loket (Czech Republic) announced that they will make new investments in their track while Dave Nicoll gave good news about the new British facilities of Matterley Basin.

Meanwhile, Eric Geboers, the promoter of Namur, confirmed that the "Citadelle" will host a triple event with the Motocross GP, the Veteran World Cup and the famous Monte Namur on the Friday prior to the GP!

The main novelty concerning Supermoto was that there will be a control tyre rule for 2006 - but Luongo stressed there were no plans for such a restriction in Motocross.

"It has been difficult decision, but everyone was complaining about the tyre budget, factories as well as privateers," he said. "We contacted all the tyre manufacturers, and got two interesting proposals from the Pirelli group and Dunlop. We choose Dunlop, they did the best offer for the riders and for the promotion of this sport... Motocross and Supermoto are different sports, and for sure there will never be one unique brand in Motocross."

At the end of the meeting, Luongo invited all the organisers to the 2006 Off Road Prize Giving Ceremony.

"This nice event will take place on the first weekend of December, and I would like to see you coming there with your ladies. They always support us during the season, and one weekend per year it's important to offer them some nice moment," he said.