Horsham to host FIM World Junior Motocross Championship in 2018
Motorcycling Australia (MA) has announced that the Horsham Motorcycle Club has won the right to host the FIM World Junior Motocross Championships (WJMX) in 2018.
The 2018 FIM World Junior Motocross Championship will be held over three days, with practice taking place on Friday, qualifying taking place on Saturday, and racing to occur on Sunday.
Countries from around the world select their best young up-and-coming riders to compete in individual classes and team events. The specific dates in 2018 are still yet to be finalised.
Horsham Motorcycle Club President Kenny Watts said hosting the event was a huge coup for the club and that it was looking forward to showcasing itself on the world stage.
“It’s the biggest junior motocross event that will ever be held in Australia, and we’re extremely excited to host it,” Watts said.
“It was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment call that I made at the 2013 Australian Junior Motocross Championship presentation night, in which I suggested it (the FIM World Junior Motocross Championships) was something we should put in for.
“The club decided to contact Motorcycling Australia and we got the ball rolling from there.”
Watts said the club was expecting hundreds of riders from across the globe to compete across the three classes (65cc, 85cc and 125cc), and would do everything possible to ensure it will be well prepared to host the world-class event.
“Horsham is already an established club with fairly impressive infrastructure, so a lot of the things we will require for the event are already in place,” Watts said.
“Since 2012 when we built this track, we’ve run 14 Australian national titles. We’ve done numerous rounds of the MX Nationals, we’ve run two Australian Women’s Motocross Championships there, plus sidecars and quad bikes; we just love running big events.
“We’ll do the right thing and we’ll go overseas and check out how other clubs are doing it in the meantime. We’ll be looking to emulate the good things and improve on the things that we think need to be improved on.”
MA CEO Dale Gilson said hosting an event such as the FIM World Junior Motocross Championship would be a massive boost to motorcycling in Australia.
“This is a magnificent result for the Horsham Motorcycling Club to be given the chance to host the FIM World Junior Motocross Championship, and I congratulate everyone involved with the process,” Gilson said.
“Landing an international event of this magnitude is not only fantastic for the Horsham community and for Victoria, but also for motorcycling in Australia overall.
“MA is always committed to showcasing events like the FIM World Junior Motocross Championship in Australia, and we will work together with the club and Motorcycling Victoria to deliver a truly wonderful event.”