MX Sports Pro Racing has announced seven manufacturers (OEMs), GASGAS, Honda, Husqvarna, Kawasaki, KTM, Suzuki, and Yamaha, have combined to provide more than $10 in posted contingency awards for the 2024 Pro Motocross season with an eighth manufacturer, Triumph, developing a separate contingency program in 2024. This represents an increase of at least $1 million over previous seasons.
As a point of comparison and a sign of the growth of the sport, the contingency and prize money combined was listed at a little more than $6 million in 2019.
When added to the contingency programs for the Monster Energy Supercross and SuperMotocross World Championship series, the financial contribution from OEMs totals nearly $26 million in addition to another $10 million in prize money across each respective championship and postseason.
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“Thanks to a steadfast financial commitment from our competing manufacturers, the competitive foundation of the Pro Motocross Championship, and the SuperMotocross World Championship as a whole, is healthier than ever, with the primary intent to benefit our highly skilled athletes,” said Roy Janson, Commissioner of Motocross, MX Sports Pro Racing in a release. “In Pro Motocross alone we’ve seen an increase of more than one million dollars in OEM contingency for the upcoming season and are eagerly anticipating a further diversification of motorcycles in our paddock with the addition of Triumph Racing.
“Under the unified effort that is the SMX League, the sport is bigger and better than ever, with a bright future ahead as organizers and manufacturers alike continue to prioritize the very individuals who make SMX the premier level of off-road racing by laying it all on the line each and every weekend.”
The 2024 list of manufacturers represents five countries, Austria, England, Japan, Spain and Sweden. In 2025, Ducati is expected to enter the Pro Motocross ranks. Currently none of the American manufacturers have a SuperMotocross bike in competition.
Along with a surge in international riders into the SMX divisions, the sport is becoming truly global.
Last season, the Pro Motocross Championship welcomed 84 racers from 24 countries outside the United States. The current Supercross 450 points’ leader, Jett Lawrence, is an Australian native and he is joined in the top 10 by sixth-place Ken Roczen (Germany), eighth-place Dylan Ferrandis (France) and ninth-place Hunter Lawrence (Australia) representing countries outside of the United States.
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This influx of international talent is fueled in part by the success of the Motocross World Championship, which returns to action March 10 in Argentina, and the completion second season of the World Supercross Championship with Roczen crowned its champion.
Pro Motocross gets into action May 25, 2024 at Fox Raceway in Pala, California. The SuperMotocross season begins September 7 at a location that has not yet been announced.
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