GP Racers And World Supercross
Back in the day, many of the leading Grand Prix riders raced AMA supercross races before their GP season and many also rode the Paris supercross, or other major supercross races throughout the World. Stefan Everts did it, J. M. Bayle did it, Sebastien Tortelli did it, John Van Den Berk did it, even names like Eric Geboers, Georges Jobe and Hakan Carlqvist did international supercross events.
With the news that Eli Tomac will do the 2024 World supercross championship, which is huge news for the sport and also having done an interview with Kurt Nicoll, who is representing World supercross and he made a point about how talented the Grand Prix riders are now compared to back in the day, or at least having the correct technique to race supercross, it got me thinking.
We saw it a little with Tim Gajser when he raced the Monster Energy Cup a couple of times, where he battled for a top five position and we all know the likes of Sasha and Lucas Coenen, Kay De Wolf and many other MX2 riders have more than enough talent to be a success in supercross.
What got me thinking, is what are the chances of some GP riders racing World Supercross rounds in Canada, Australia and Abu Dhabi. If it doesn’t happen this year, which it still could, I can see several GP riders racing the World supercross in the near future. Kurt Nicolls comments made me think, the WSX promoters are already looking at signing big name GP riders.
“I think what we need to realize, motocross and supercross has narrowed as a skill set,” Nicoll told us. “Back in my day, when I was racing Grand Prix, we were a million miles away from being able to do supercross. Nowadays, at a regular MXGP track, all those MXGP riders, the best ones in the World, every one of them, could race supercross. The skill levels are very, very close now. Up until maybe the early 2000s, that wasn’t the case. The talent in MXGP and MX2 is so high now and the technical aspects of the Grand Prix riders shows they are capable of racing supercross. There is a place for a supercross series, which allows MXGP riders to race supercross.”
We all know that De Wolf and the Coenen brothers would like to race supercross and while a lot of the rumours running around about these three are not facts yet, when we asked De Wolf about racing supercross, he was still looking at the possibilities, but of course, he will race GP in 2025 and who knows after that.
“It is a dream for sure” De Wolf told us. “It is still in the back of my mind, but I still have a contact for Grand Prix in 2025 and I have to see what the possible plans are. Maybe go there this winter and so some supercross riding and see how I feel on the whoops. I would love to do that this winter and see if I enjoy it and if I can hit some whoops sections, then I am up for the challenge and if that works out, I need to make that dream happen.”
Maybe, if the World supercross becomes bigger than it currently is, there is an opportunity for GP riders to do the World supercross and also their Grand Prix obligations. For the sport, its a pretty cool opportunity.
We saw what happened with Jorge Prado when he raced a few rounds of the 2024 AMA supercross championship and what it did for his improvement as a racer, so imagine, under somewhat easier conditions, with far less stress, and events not run just prior to the GP season, what it might do for names like De Wolf, Coenen, Haarup or even Everts for their progress.
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