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Long term agreement gives Supermoto a guaranteed future.

The future of British Supermoto racing has been given a boost with the announcement that Norasport and the ACU have a signed a 5 year agreement for Norasport to run Supermoto championships that are sanctioned by the ACU.

Although the proposed merger had been announced a number of weeks ago it has taken a lot of effort behind the scenes to ratify all the technical issues that are crucial to an agreement that see two permit issuing authorities come together. Clarifying points around insurance cover is a long winded and tedious affair but critical to the protection of riders and officials and therefore needed to be dealt with in a very detailed manner. This has caused the recent delay in announcing details and both bodies would like to express their thanks for the patience of riders and sponsors.

With the agreement covering an initial 5 year period but with the intention of both parties that this will be a permanent state of affairs the benefit to competitors is immediately obvious. With a stable platform now in place riders, teams & sponsors can now plan and invest in a sport that has a secure and tenable future.

The current Norasport National Championships will now be recognised by the ACU and the FIM. This will give riders of different abilities an official championship to chase and a programme that will differentiate between capacity classes is the cornerstone of the new series. The existing Norasport calendar will remain un-changed, with the first date at Rowrah being a non-championship round the series will kick of in earnest at the three day Easter meeting at 3 Sisters Wigan. Details of all the championship classes will be released shortly on both the Norasport and British Championship websites.

Norasport supremo Toby Taylor commented immediately after signing the historic agreement, “I’m really happy with the outcome of our negotiations and it is an honour for Norasport to be given the backing of the governing body of motorcycle sport in the UK. It is also a reflection of the excellent job done by our small but dedicated band of volunteers that work so hard behind the scenes. I would also like to thank Frank Carter and Gary Thompson at the ACU for all their efforts in helping make this happen.”

David Dearden, ACU Supermoto liaison officer added; “It is a great result for Supermoto, this long term agreement has benefits for all riders, whether a first time novice or an aspiring World Champion, all abilities will be catered for. Riders should not underestimate the work that has gone in from both sides to make this happen. It is really encouraging that (often perceived) rivalries have been put to one side for the good of the sport.”   

For further information or to download licence forms and entry forms please visit.

www.norasport.com

www.britishsupermoto.net

www.acu.org.uk  

2010 Dates & Championship conditions to be released shortly.

The format and dates for the 2010 ACU Supermoto series will be announced in the next few days. After extensive negotiations with a number of interested parties an agreement in principle has been reached and the full details will be announced via this website very shortly.

2009 British Supermoto Champions honoured this weekend.

The four ACU British Supermoto Champions, Christian Iddon (Elite), Oliver Harrison (Lites), Joe Collier (Junior) and double winner Bruce Dingle (SM Cup & SXV Challenge) will be presented with their Trophies at the star studded ACU awards night, this coming Saturday 30^th January 2010.

All the ACU, National & International champions from Road Racing, Moto-X, Enduro, Grass track, Speedway, Trials and Short Track will receive their awards in what is always a superb occasion and we are pleased to see that our Supermoto stars are recognised for their achievements.

This latest issue of SMI Mag is a bumper edition. News and views of the British Championship. Articles by current and past legends of Supermoto.

To subscribe etc see:

01945 772082
info@smimag.co.uk
www.smimag.co.uk

The final round of the 2009 Proppa.com! British Supermoto Championship was hosted by one of Northern Ireland’s premier bike sport clubs, the Killinchy & Dist MCC. For 21 years the Killinchy club have organised the P & O Supermoto Winter series, making it probably the Worlds longest running Supermoto series. Last year the final round of the British Championship was held at the opening round of the P & O at Bishopscourt and for 2009 the final round of the P & O hosted the final round of British, a nice synergy for the most prestigious Championship on either side of the water. The venue used was the superfast Kirkistown circuit on the Ards peninsular some 40 minutes drive south east of Belfast. With the current economic plight affecting everyone’s pocket it was refreshing to see a large entry of both solo’s and quads turn up on a dark and wet morning to do battle for the final time in 2009.

With all the British Championships settled other than the Lites, the main focus of attention was on the scrap for third place in the Elite class between team mates, South African Craig Venske and Staffordshire veteran, Ady Smith. At the start of the meeting Venske held a slender 6 point advantage over his team leader Smith. Not only was there the prize money and sponsors bonus at stake for getting the third place cup which is considered best of the rest by most riders after Iddon and Winstanley have tied up the first two places, but more importantly team bragging rights were at stake and both competitors desperately wanted the upper hand. It wasn’t going to be a two horse race though as many of the top competitors in the championship had made it across the Irish sea and with a large prize money pot at stake there was a lot to race for.

Kirkistown is a fast flowing circuit and the organisers had created a great Supermoto track by the clever use of chicanes, the off road is a flat fast shale track but with the torrential rain that had battered Britain for the past few days it was still usable where a more technical dirt section would have been abandoned. The British Supermoto Championship is the only championship to currently visit Northern Ireland and the local’s are very thankful for the recognition this brings to their meeting, they were especially pleased to see newly crowned British Champion, Christian Iddon brave the storms to make the trip across, especially when he had nothing to ride for. The Derbyshire world star certainly increased his fan base considerably by turning up and sleeping in his van in order to race just purely for the fun of it.

With championship rival Lee Rudd not making the trip Oliver Harrison automatically became the 2009 British SM Lites champion without turning a wheel, he therefore elected to join the Elite class on his Skyzone Racing 250 KTM as did sole SXV Cup rider Lee Abbott, trying out a new engine for the first time. The British SM Cup riders joined the Irish KTM solo support class and the Elite riders had a stand alone race with invited riders from Ireland as well as being invited to compete in the P & O Prestige class. After qualifying it was Christian Iddon who led the field from Ady Smith, Richard Blakeman, Craig Venske and Lee Williams.

Race one got away under leaden skies and a fine drizzle but just after half distance a torrential downpour and gale force winds forced the Clerk of the Course Sam McMinn to call for a red flag, Christian Iddon had a sizeable lead but all interest was on the Venske/Smith dice for second and it looked as if Venske was going to extend his lead as Smith crashed and remounted but the red flag was for climatic conditions and the result was taken back a lap so Smith claimed second over Venske third, an impressive Richard Blakeman 4th and back to form Lee Williams in fifth. Venske’s advantage over Smith was now only 4 points but the big South African was still the bookies favourite. However with the track flooded and a hurricane whipping across the Northern Ireland countryside the chances of any racing looked pretty slim as the organisers took an early lunch break to see if the weather situation would improve.

After 40 minutes of torrential rain the sky started to clear a little and even though there was still a strong wind the track started to drain and with a little course altering and a inspection by riders and officials the meeting got underway. The second Elite race mirrored the first with Iddon getting the holeshot followed by Smith and Venske a little way behind. However Venske was determined to beat his team mate and with four laps to go made a move at the end of the straight which went badly wrong as he hit the dirt section and went down. Picking himself up he fought back to third just pipping Richard Blakeman across the line, Ryan Dixon made the long trip from Dover worthwhile with a great ride to fifth place. For all the competitors the final two laps were extremely hard going as the heavens opened again.

The final Elite race was winner take all in the battle for that Third place as Ady Smith had now got to within two points of Venske and if he repeated the previous two races he would end up taking the spoils, as the points total would be equal but he would win the tie breaker rule on the best final race. The skies had finally cleared and it was in weak sunshine that the final race of the year took place. The pressure was really on but it was the veteran Smith who kept his cool as exiting the Clubhouse Chicane Venske lost the rear and crashed out. Picking his bike up he remounted but the game was over as Smith made no mistakes to come home 2 seconds behind Christian Iddon, Lee Williams was an excellent 3rd with Blakeman 4th and Ryan Dixon 5th. 

In the support races it was Kendal bike dealer Neil Crayston who turned out to be the surprise package of the day, getting to the grid late in Race 1 meant he had to start from the back of the grid but he pulled through to 8th, in the second race his 4th place qualifying spot was taken with plenty of time to spare and a good start saw him battling for the lead throughout the race in a great dice with local rider Scott Marsden, the final race saw Neil register what is probably his first win in Supermoto, certainly at this level of competition, to end a great day for the likeable Cumbrian.

In the P & O Prestige series the British Elite riders had good showings with a win for Richard Blakeman in Race 1, a fine second place in Race 2 for Lee Williams, just behind David Farmer. and a great final race of the day which saw most Competitors enter. Ulster Aerials had given a cash prize for the first 3 riders in the final P & O race and the time keeper & commentator came up with some money for 4th & 5th, such is the enthusiasm for racing over there. With no pressure now and the season over for most riders it was a big grid for the final race. The British Elite class made a clean sweep of the Irish prize money though with Ady Smith holding of a determined Christian Iddon with Richard Blakeman, Lee Williams and Craig Venske following close behind. 

The presentation took place in the fabulous clubhouse bar which gives a panoramic view of the circuit, the Mayor of Ards District Council came along to hand out the awards, again an indication of how much the British Championship means in this area and some very happy riders made their way back to the Ferry (via a few pints) as once again the joys of racing in Ireland were recognised by those who made the effort.

Final round Special Awards

NRGee Elite Class Cash Prize    £125 – Christian Iddon    £75 – Ady Smith    £50 – Richard Blakeman

Ulster Aerials Final  Race for Cash    £100 – Ady Smith    £75 – Christian Iddon    £50 – Richard Blakeman     £20 – Lee Williams    £10 – Craig Venske

Nameplate Services Ltd Special Award    SM Cup – £100 – Neil Crayston   SM Lites – £100 – Oliver Harrison

Michelin Award – (New rear tyre to the Winner of the KTM Solo Support races) – Scott Marsden

BSMC Directors Award – (New Rear Tyre – Shortlist James McClelland Ryan Dixon Neil Crayston Richard Blakeman Lee Williams) Winner – Neil Crayston   

Acerbis Award – Richard Blakeman (£75 of Acerbis or Scott products to the highest points scorer in the 6 races combined P & O Prestige & Proppa.Com Elite)

Although the overall entry numbers were disappointing we had a very enjoyable meeting at Dale, the circuit is well worth the effort to get there and Mark & Andy put a lot of effort into preparing the track and getting feedback from all the riders on ways to improve it for the future. Most riders were a little cautious at first but by the end of the second day everyone seemed to have really got to grips with the track. Ady Smith said it was physically the most demanding circuit he had ever ridden and was a very enjoyable meeting. Christian Iddon was impressed enough to offer his services to help Mark & Andy work on improvements for the future.

A special mention must go to young Sam Gilbody who launched himself at the Triple and ended up taking a helicopter ride to Hospital. Thankfully Sam is making a good recovery and has recently been moved closer to home. Best wishes go to Sam and his family from all at BSMC. Another casualty of the weekend was Michael Craig who having spent 24 hours getting there ending up cracking a rib in his first race in a freak accident and had to turn round and drive all the way back home again!!

A full race report will be emailed out separately but as four of our five solo championships were settled at Dale we would like to congratulate the winners. A full point’s breakdown is pasted below and we will need to wait until our final round in Northern Ireland on 21^st November to see who triumphs in the SM Lites between Oliver Harrison & Lee Rudd. There are still 60 points to go for and a quite a few of the place positions are up for grabs.

I’m sure you will all join us in congratulating the following riders on their fantastic achievements;

PROPPA.COM! 2009 ELITE BRITISH SUPERMOTO CHAMPION – #21 CHRISTIAN IDDON (KTM UK KTM) 620 points

NAMEPLATE SERVICES 2009 JUNIOR BRITISH SUPERMOTO CHAMPION – #111 JOE COLLIER (MC MOTORS HONDA) 690 points

HEAVY DUTY FORKLIFTS 2009 SM CUP BRITISH SUPERMOTO CHAMPION – #37 BRUCE DINGLE (APRILIA VDB) 626 points

DRAYTON CROFT M/C’s/ALICE RACING SXV CHALLENGE 2009 CHAMPION – #37 BRUCE DINGLE (APRILIA VDB) 718 points

We realise that there has been a great deal of unrest at the lack of information about the location and date of the next round of the British Championship. However behind the scenes there has been a tremendous amount of work, phone calls, miles travelled and meetings made to try to resolve the problems which every one must remember have been no fault of the British Championship. We feel that a full explanation should be forthcoming and therefore this is quite a long message in order to cover all the points. Before we go into the current situation it is worth looking back to the reasons that BSMC was created.

 At the end of the 2007 season the future of the British Supermoto Championship looked bleak. The historic collaboration between the ACU, AMCA and NORA sport had come to an end and with no dates, no organisation and no venues and the prospect of no official series seemed very realistic. However at the last minute Ken Winstanley, Stuart Smith & David Dearden, all who believed passionately in the sport came together and decided to create BSMC 2008 Ltd to promote Supermoto racing in the UK. 

 The blueprint we came up with created a championship with the following conditions;

• To maintain the sporting link between the two main motorcycle sport licensing bodies in the UK, the ACU and the AMCA.
• To run a professional series that would replicate top level Supermoto championships around the world.
• To encourage riders to participate in a National series regardless of ability.
• To find and develop new venues around the country.
• To attract outside sponsors to the sport in order to grow it’s appeal.
• To develop existing venues to ensure that Supermoto could flourish 
• To ensure close competitive safe racing in a friendly atmosphere.
• To take the views of all competitors into account.
• To ensure our meetings don’t clash with other domestic & World championship events.
• To be non profit making (but not loss making) and reinvest any surpluses into the sport.

Looking back now we feel that we have worked within that framework and delivered in all areas. Although we often face criticism, we have used it in a constructive way to enhance what we do and for a bunch of enthusiastic volunteers we feel that the last two seasons have been broadly successful. We have invested money at Rowrah to create a new off road which transformed the track. We have helped the Scottish Club put Crail on the map as an exciting SM venue. We built a tremendous track worthy of a World Championship at Lydden Hill and combined it with the innovation of running at two tracks in the same weekend. And of course we broke new ground in the UK with our Sportscity events. At every meeting we run we always try to innovate and change the track so that it enhances the racing for you the competitor.

 The big problem in Supermoto is that there just aren’t enough regular riders and with track hire of the premier circuits costing multi thousands of pounds an organiser has to be very careful to mix up the venues and ensure that there is no date clashes to allow a championship to break even. One of our main conditions is to avoid running on the same weekend as the FIM World Championship, as soon as Youthstream announced their 2009 calendar we put our dates together and announced our calendar a good two months ahead of other domestic championships. Unfortunately the World Championship has had to change a number of dates and locations and Youthstream where unable to confirm their dates to us until the 18th August and even then there was uncertainty.

 When we created the 2009 calendar almost a year ago we had started discussions with Brands Hatch about their development of a stand alone Supermoto track. Unfortunately the track wasn’t up to standard and would need significant investment in order to meet our requirements and in the current economic climate that investment would not appear in the short term. We were determined to run a meeting in the South as there has been great support for our Championship from Southern based riders and there is a shortage of good tracks down there so as part of our development role we felt it was important to try to find a venue in the South. Over the last few months we have followed up a number of leads, including the 02 Arena, Docklands and Brooklands. These have been worthwhile discussions but they are for future years.

 It is very important to us that we complete our scheduled number of rounds as too many championships in other disciplines have cancelled events or run shortened series. It is also important to us that we don’t visit two venues in the same season as we don’t feel that is a true British Championship when you run at the same location twice.

 We found ourselves with a problem with our September date as the World round in Andorra was re-scheduled to run on the same date. It was also difficult to get absolute confirmation that this event was going ahead. We looked at running at Bordon on Sept 6 with SSM as we feel Borden has real potential and we visited the track and gave our input. The 6^th Sept was never really on as well as clashing with a World round it also clashed with Nora at 3 Sisters. We have tried to find a stand alone date but unfortunately with the MOD & Bordon Flying Club usage nothing could be scheduled to fit the very crowded September/October calendar. With Lydd having no off road capability & Lydden Hill not available even running at the same venue again was not on.

 At the same time as trying to find a Southern based venue we also re-opened the dialogue with Teesside one of the best circuits in the UK for Supermoto, we were really pleased to get approval back for Supermoto racing so this became a possible solution to our problem. Not being a Southern track was an issue but the quality of the track would get everyone’s approval. Unfortunately the earliest date available was Oct 3 & 4 which was a date already in the NORA calendar. As we don’t want to clash with any other meeting and the NORA venue was yet to be decided we contacted Toby Taylor to see whether he would want to share the venue. Toby had just confirmed and booked Blyton for his next round and therefore couldn’t accept our offer but kindly gave us the option to join him at Blyton. After thinking through the whole process this was discounted as both series run to different formats and to change rules at the end of the season would be very unfair to competitors. All other available dates for Teesside until December clashed with other meetings such as Mettet or our Northern Irish round.

 One other circuit we had been considering for the British Championship was Dale. After a visit to the track & a meeting with Mark & Andy who look after the circuit we came back impressed by their enthusiasm and the great potential of the venue. There are certainly drawbacks but the plans that are in place to improve facilities need the support of Supermoto in general. Tracks for our sport are becoming harder & harder to establish and a venue that has no noise problems and large areas of land are very rare indeed. The organisers are willing to put a lot of effort in to upgrading the circuit in order to accommodate the British Championship and hopefully the meeting will establish the track as a permanent venue for future years

 Therefore the next round of the British Championship will take place on 26^th & 27^th September at Dale, Haverfordwest Dyfed Wales.

The following reasons brought us to this decision.

 The only circuit available before December without date clashes

• A fantastic off road section as good as any we have ever seen
• Plenty of scope for different track layouts on the very grippy road section
• Potential to develop a meaningful circuit for future use.
• A true British Championship location as we now visit England, Scotland, Ireland & Wales.

As the venue is lower cost than other circuits we visit we can also pass that saving on to our competitors and this meeting will attract and entry fee of £60 for all pre-payments and £75 on the day. We will also be running a non-championship clubman’s/novice class open to any tyre choice to encourage the beginner or track day enthusiast to have a go at racing on the same day as the British Superstars with full insurance, medical cover & transponders.

Blood Sweat and Gears is the television and multimedia platform that follows the Proppa.com British Supermoto Championship that includes footage in a weekly programme on Sky channel 419 Extreme.

Saturday 29th September 1300 hrs and 2000 hrs.

www.bloodsweatandgears.tv

Proppa.com British Supermoto Championship date change.

Even though we  issued our dates in October last year a number of other events have changed their dates.

In order to ensure stability and sensible planning for competitors we are changing the date of our final championship round at Kirkistown to 21st November. The local council is supporting this meeting thereby allowing the building of a new offroad section and we want to ensure as many competitors get the opportunity to race as possible. Following the racing will be the championship presentation night.

Contrary to rumour we will NOT be combining with Southern Supermoto at their 6th September meeting at Bordon. We are still talking to three circuits about running on the original and so far unchanged Championship date.

More news will follow shortly.

Thank you.