When news came out at the end of 2021, that the Australian promotional company SX Global had been selected by the FIM to run the 2022 Supercross World Championship, a lot of people sat up and wondered what the future would be for this sometimes bastard of a championship.

Since 1985, the World supercross championship has been something of a tooth ache for the sport, with different promoters pushing to have it taken seriously, even the brilliance of Giuseppe Luongo back in the late 1990s wasn’t enough to get the series off the ground and the fact the World Supercross championship ran side by side with the AMA Supercross Championship, to me, and many others it was just the ugly sister, walking in the shadows of the “real” supercross title.

Well, things are about to change and having spoken to the guys at SX Global today, I get the feeling we might be seeing something very special in the next few years and possibly a change that might just present a World Supercross Championship that deserves the name World attached to it.

We caught up with Adam Bailey the managing director of motorsport at SX Global back in December of 2021, and listening to his words and the conviction of the goals for this series, you just have to be a believer. Get ready for some interesting off-season racing, because these Aussies mean business.

With the recent press release on prizemoney, we thought we would run this interview again, as it seems more people are interested now.

MXLarge: Obviously when the news came out that AMA and FIM were separating, and the World Supercross Championship wouldn’t be running alongside the AMA supercross championship a lot of people figured it would be hard for FIM to find a replacement. Soon after the FIM put out for tenders to promoter the World Supercross championship. When did you guys get involved in negotiating with the FIM about running this series?

Bailey: We actually were interested as soon as we heard it was moving from America. We had been wanting to go international with our events for a while and we obviously expanded into New Zealand, and we dealt with the FIM for that Oceania championship. We had also looked into partnering with the FIM going into Asia and have been looking to go international for years. When that announcement came, we approached FIM with a proposal and they obviously then had to go to tender, so see if anyone else was interested. Fortunately, they chose us at the end of that process.

MXLarge: Obviously the World Supercross championship doesn’t have a great history, with it starting in 1985 and running into the start of the 1990 and then Action Group did a series at the end of the 1990s, before it landed in America, but it has never really been taken too seriously. So, it seems a tough sell. You guys run really nice events, and I assume you will try and keep it a little closer to home, close to Australia, maybe in New Zealand and around Asia?

Bailey: No, not at all, we want it to be a World championship, so all around the World. It was only at that time going global wasn’t possible, because the FIM were dealing with America and staying close to home was the best option for our events then. Our plan is to go fully global, every part of the World eventually.

MXLarge: Obviously the World is begging for a World Supercross Championship that runs around the World, because we all love the AMA stuff, but most of us don’t get to see it live. It seems to be getting harder and harder to get the really good American riders to travel the World. You have had good guys at your events like Ryan Villopoto, Chad Reed, Cooper Webb, Jett Lawrence, Jason Anderson and others, or course Paris also have good riders coming to their events. Have you spoken to Paris or other promoters around the World to all get involved?

Bailey: We have yes, and we have spoken to Paris and other promoters, but we won’t be just talking with present supercross promoters, we will be dealing with promoters of major events and concerts. We are dealing with all types of entertainment promotional teams. But we totally agree with you, and we are huge fans of supercross, and our events prove to us, there is a huge appetite for World class racing outside the US. Unfortunately for us, the fans, the World Supercross Championship has been held in one country. So, for us, we feel it isn’t how it should be, we feel a World championship should go around the World like MotoGP or F1 and that is what we are setting out to achieve.

MXLarge: As far as getting the really top guys from America, which seems like the hardest job, because they race a lot and many of them don’t really like travelling. Or have you talked to US teams about that?

Bailey: It is a good point and in the short term it will be a challenge and we don’t plan to clash with the AMA supercross, we have no plan to do that. Next year we will start at the tail end of the AMA supercross and the motocross championships. As the championship grows, we might start earlier and come closer to the AMA supercross. It will be an option for riders who want to race just supercross, as opposed to AMA supercross and AMA motocross.

MXLarge: It is obviously a really difficult time, and your project will be an expensive challenge, for sure in our current state with COVID 19 around, so I assume you have made a pretty flexible deal with FIM because of this?

Bailey: Yes, for sure and that is why next year is a short season and one of them being the fact there isn’t enough time for teams and riders to change contracts for additional events at the end of the year. The other is Covid and to give us more time to plan and the World to sort itself out. We believe by 2023 we will have all guns blazing.

MXlarge: You guys clearly know what you are doing and along with Paris the biggest supercross of the year. Is it more important to make maybe the 2022 series something similar to what Paris did this year with riders like Antonio Cairoli, Chad Reed or some of the names that will attract crowds, because as you said attracting the really big names might be hard the first year?

Bailey: No, not at all, we want the best riders, to be a legitimate World championship, we want the best riders there and we want a deserved World Supercross Champion to be crowned. We have done a lot of research and why it never worked in the past was, because those promoters back then, they were paying riders to show up and some events could pay more than other events, for instance Paris could pay more than a race in Italy or Holland. The legitimacy of having a real championship is important and we are putting in some unique measures to try and make it an attractive proposition for the teams and riders to be involved. In fact, we are sure it will be an attractive proposition for the teams and riders. First and foremost, we are working with the teams and manufacturers on this series. We are talking with the manufacturers, and they are the ones who will see the biggest benefit we believe for a global championship, rather than a national championship.

MXLarge: Are you speaking directly with Japan or the American teams, because obviously the budgets for the AMA supercross comes from America, which makes a global championship more complicated, but of course there are guys in America, the top guys who like to travel like Jason Anderson, Cooper Webb, Marvin Musquin and many more. But to get a full field, that is going to be tough.

Bailey: You hit the nail on the head, and that has been a big obstacle, because when you are talking to teams with US budgets, it is understandable that there is no motivation for their riders to race outside the US. For us, the only way to flip that, or change that, is to make the teams less reliant on manufacturer funding and to do that, we will be supplying a lot of assistance for them, for the teams. Then of course also speaking to teams in the home country of the race, be it in Japan or Europe, to show that supercross is a global platform rather than a US platform, which it is now. Which is why they are only funded out of the US. It won’t be easy, but this is what we are set out to do.

MXLarge: I know you have a big announcement in January or early 2022, but can you give me anything on when this championship will be run next year?

Bailey: We will have five to six rounds, starting at the beginning of September (MXoN date of September 25 will not see a round of the World supercross as agreed with the FIM) and until ending at the end of November. That is the window we are going for, not to clash with AMA supercross and AMA motocross. As for a full schedule we will have something for you around April.

MXLarge: I was speaking to the guy who runs the MXGP round in Argentina and he has just started an Argentina Supercross championship, a three-round series in January and wants to build that to be bigger. He mentioned he might be interested in being involved and adding to his already impressive list of promotional events. Is that something for you guys, to deal with countries in South America?

Bailey: We actually did some research, and we would be interested in going there. Our financial backer has funded a lot of research on the market for supercross around the World, which has been really, really interesting. South America, actually Brazil was one of the highest-ranking countries for fan following supercross. I generally feel the regions like that are going to be so thirsty to see this action.

MXLarge: Would there possible be a round in America?

Bailey: Absolutely, that is the plan. We think there should be at least one round in the US and while we don’t want to clash with the AMA supercross championship and Feld, it is the biggest country for supercross, and we want to run there.

MXLarge: Obviously coverage of all sporting events is important in this day and age and like MXGP or Supercross have their own live streaming, there are also television channels around the World who broadcast those two series. How high on the priority is it to have a good coverage for the fans who can’t get to these events?

Bailey: It is a huge, huge focus. Global broadcasting, live streaming, all platforms and behind the scenes content is a huge part of what we have been doing the last few months. Our financial partner is really well connected in major events and entertainment globally, so that will be well covered. We will be telling more in January.

MXLarge: I don’t know if you mean maybe a company like Monster is the backer? That backer, is that somebody you will be presenting in January?

Bailey: It is, but I am not talking a sponsor, but a partner and they are huge in the sport and entertainment space. What they will help us to do, is very exciting and I think people will be blown away. It is without question the most exciting part of this whole project.