Rival Supercross series competing for the top riders by offering big prize money

The latest announcement was the creation of a new partnership between the promoters of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross outdoor series and the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series to create something called the SuperMotocross World Championship beginning in 2023. MX Sports Pro Racing, which runs the outdoor series, and Feld Motor Sports, which runs Supercross in the United States, will put on a three-race "playoff" series in October of 2023, concluding at the Los Angeles Coliseum where the sport of Supercross was born 50 years ago. The top riders in the points in both 450 and 250 classes in Supercross and motocross will be eligible to compete for the new SuperMotocross World Championship and a total of $10 million in prize money for the season.

Meanwhile, as we reported earlier, the newly formed FIM Supercross World Championship will begin this October. The Monster Energy Supercross series in the United States served as the FIM world championship in Supercross for years, until that partnership was dissolved. The FIM signed an agreement with the Australian promoter SX Global to run the new WSX series, backed by sovereign investor money out of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Plans for creating some cooperation between the motocross and Supercross series in the United States have been in the works for a couple of years, dating back to an initial meeting between MX Sports and Feld personnel during the Daytona Supercross in 2020. Rumors of the hybrid playoff series have been circulating in motocross circles for quite a while. Still, to some degree, the new championship looks like an effort by the old guard in the states to compete with the new WSX series for the top riders and the attention of Supercross fans.

Two approaches to Supercross

Over the years, Supercross and outdoor motocross have become more specialized and different disciplines. Most of the riders may be the same and the motorcycles may look the same, but everything from bike setup to rider training regimens is different. The new SuperMotocross World Championship brings the two together with the three-round playoff on tracks that are intended to be a hybrid of indoor Supercross and outdoor motocross.

The new WSX series has taken a different approach from the motocross and Supercross series in the United States. Instead of relying on factory-sponsored teams, the WSX series will consist of 10 independent teams invited to compete, and two spots will be open for local wild-card riders. Unlike the Monster Energy Supercross series, which took place almost entirely in the United States even when it was a world championship, the new series will truly be international. The first round is scheduled for October 8 in Wales in Great Britain and the second round will be in Australia.

WSX has been working to drum up publicity and show that it can win over some of the big-name riders. Ken Roczen is the most notable rider to commit to WSX, two-time Supercross champion Chad Reed will come out of retirement to race in the new series, and pro riders such as Justin Brayton, Cole Seely, Vince Friese, and Max Anstie have committed to the series.

The obvious question is where the top riders will eventually migrate to in Supercross. Will they stay in the Monster Energy series in the states or will the SX Global WSX series gradually become more prestigious? Beyond that, two other questions come to my mind.

First, with motocross already being about the most physically punishing sport out there, will riders be able to add three more races to their already full year of competition? With Monster Energy Supercross running from New Year's through May and outdoor motocross filling the summer into the early fall, the off-season time for resting up and recovering from the inevitable injuries was already short. Now, the SuperMotocross World Championship will make it a month shorter.

Second, I have a question about that name: SuperMotocross World Championship. Not the perhaps infelicitous way SuperMotocross rolls off the tongue, but rather the "World Championship" part. The FIM sanctions motorcycle world championships. Is there any way the international organization can restrict the use of that title? Also, the American Motorcyclist Association is the FIM affiliate in the United States and also sanctions the Lucas Oil outdoor series and the Monster Energy Supercross series. Could the FIM put pressure on MX Sports and Feld Entertainment through the AMA to get them to drop the "World Championship" label?

But now we're probably getting too far into the minutiae. The real takeaway here is that the Supercross landscape has been reshaped. Shots have been fired and returned. It will be more than a year before we see how it starts to shake out and, fittingly for this sport, it will surely be a bumpy ride.