    |
 |
|
|
|
From - Ian Miles:
MOTOCROSS CALENDAR SHAPES UP:
More information has emerged about next year's world motocross championship which will see expat Kiwis Josh Coppins and Ben Townley gunning for titles.
With two extra rounds planned, the 2003 series offers 14 grands prix in the calendar released by championship organisers Dorna of Spain.
Germany, France and the Netherlands will all be visited twice and Spain has been re-installed as the season-opening location, kicking off the year on a later than usual March 30th weekend.
In what will be a home GP for Josh Coppins in his new CAS Honda team, Great Britain makes a welcome and overdue return to the championship. The British race in 2000 was cancelled when severe weather washed out the Foxhill circuit and the off-road circus has not visited since.
Rushmoor Arena just outside south-east London has now been chosen to run the event, after some trouble finding a suitable venue. The land near Aldershot is in a natural amphitheatre with parking for more than 10,000 cars, although construction on the track has still to be completed.
Even better news for Coppins, current world number two in the 250 class which will be the undisputed premier category next year when it is re-named Motocross GP: the circuit at Montevarchi in Tuscany has been confirmed as the venue of the Italian Grand Prix.
This natural hillside track is at the rural town where Coppins trained during the 2002 season. He rode an early round of the Italian championship there, going on to win the title.
In the biggest shock of the calendar, the world's major motocross nation Belgium does not host a grand prix after hosting three rounds in the past two years (Genk twice and Namur once) and a huge history of GP events.
Townley's team for the past season and a half, Big Five Vangani, was based in Belgium and Coppins formerly spent time there while riding for the world Suzuki squad.
In 2003 Townley, mounting a 125 title challenge for the factory KTM team Champ, will be based just north of the border in The Netherlands.
Despite Belgium's loss of a GP, the Motocross of Nations being held in Zolder on 5 October will draw the best motocross riders in the world to the lowland nation. The event, coined the Olympics of motocross, hit controversy this year. First awarded to the Belgian F1 circuit at Spa-Francorchamps, it was transferred to California only to run into disastrous political problems just a week before staging and subsequently find itself delayed and switched to Spain where most top riders declined to race.
Now it finds itself back at a Belgian former Formula One circuit, new to motocross. Zolder is also in line to host a Belgian MXGP for three seasons starting in 2004.
Rushmoor Arena and Montevarchi are the only newcomer tracks on the 2003 list, with the GP of Austria still to confirm the Karntenring as its venue.
As this year, the Grand Prix of France will be awarded to the circuit of St Jean d´Angely near Nantes. That race is on 18 May.
A second event will be held in France, further north at Ernee west of Paris where previous French GPs have been held. The final round of the series on 14 September, it has yet to be given a name; in the past such events have been awarded titles like the GP of Europe.
Lierop is also back on the calendar. The sandy Dutch circuit last staged the GP of Dutch Brabant but now gets its own status as the GP of Lierop on 10 August.
In terms of schedule, three months of 2003 contain only one GP (March, April and September) with August and June representing the busiest times (4 races/weekends in August and three in June). May and July each have two.
On official figures, four GPs from 2002 drew more than 20,000 fans through the weekend (France, Belgium, Sweden and the Czech Republic) with the French round topping the chart.
Spain, Holland and Teutschenthal were also close to the 20k mark. More than 200,000 spectators in total paid to watch the 12-round series.
Exactly five months out from the first GP of 2003, further changes are expected in the calendar. Past years have frequently seen the overall number of events reduced as promoters withhdraw, changes of venue within nations and date alterations.
The provisional 2003 calendar:
30 March Bellpuig, Spain
13 April Valkenswaard, Netherlands
4 May Teutschenthal, eastern Germany - to be confirmed
18 May St Jean-d'Angély, France
1 June Montevarchi, Italy
8 June Sevlievo, Bulgaria
22 June Karntenring, Austria - to be confirmed
6 July Uddevalla, Sweden
20 July Moscow, Russia - to be confirmed
3 August Rushmoor Arena, Great Britain
10 August Lierop, Netherlands
24 August Gaildorf, western Germany - to be confirmed
31 August Loket, Czech Republic
14 September Ernee, France
Plus:
5 October Motocross des Nations - Zolder, Belgium
