Aussie MX News

Has anyone else noticed that the long-time Rockstar MX Nats promoter, Williams Event Management’s Kevin Williams, has been spending a large proportion of his time in America recently? So what’s he been up to? Well, aside from a holiday with his family and a few quiet Rockstars with Aussie riders and team managers who’ve also been in the US in recent months, lots! He’s been at the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur MX Championships and spent a fair bit of time with Millsaps Training Facility’s (MTF’s) Colleen Millsaps, working on fostering a good relationship with the well-known boot-camp for top US riders and creating opportunities for more American riders to race in Oz, and vice versa. Williams also played a large part in getting American Joey Savatgy (who’s dad works at MTF) out to Australia recently for the Aussie Junior MX Nats, and hooking him up with the Raceline Suzuki team. Of course, Savatgy went on to win two classes at the Juniors.

During his travels, Kevin Williams has also been in discussions with Racer X Magazine founder, Davey Coombs, who runs MX Sports — the promoter of the Lucas Oils AMA Pro Motocross Championship. Word on the street is that Rockstar Energy Drink will be naming-rights sponsor for the entire AMA Outdoor series in 2011 (rather than just a few selected rounds, which is what happened this year), and that Lucas Oil has expressed interest in stepping up its involvement in the Australian MX Championship for 2011. In much the same vein as the premier supercross series in the USA and Oz – which share Monster Energy Drink as their major sponsors – the motocross series in both countries might also be poised to benefit from the synergies inherent in a common major sponsor. In any case, it opens the door for a greater two-way flow of riders to and from the USA.

Williams has also revealed to Transmoto that he intends to launch a three-round Amateur Motocross Series in Australia in 2011, which is likely to be incorporated into the Saturday program of his Rockstar MX Nats Championship the following year, 2012.

Williams also alluded to the very real possibility of a step-up in TV coverage for the Aussie MX Nats in 2011 with America’s dedicated motorsport pay-TV channel, Speed, set to come on stream with Foxtel in the coming months. “I think motocross is really coming of age and starting to get recognised by the public as a mainstream action sport,” Williams explained. “These days, the media coverage is such that you don’t have to be a motorcycle rider to be a fan of motocross. People find the sport cool to be associated with.”