South Africa MXGP - Agreement Until 2012

May 4, 2007 7:19am

MANTOVA, Friday 4 May 2007 – Today Mr. Ian Shrosbree, organizer of the Grand Prix of South Africa and managing director of Topcar Sports Management, and Mr. Giuseppe Luongo, President of Youthstream, made a five-year agreement for the Grand Prix of South Africa.

“This has been a very difficult and disappointing decision,” Mr. Shrosbree said about the cancellation of the 2007 Motocross Grand Prix of South Africa, “But we had no choice but to cancel the event. Hosting the event is a multi-million Rand exercise, which requires the financial backing of a number of parties. Unfortunately, promised Provincial Government financial support was not forthcoming within a realistic time frame. We therefore had no alternative but to call off the event for this year.”

Ian Shrosbree (Managing Director of Topcar Sports Management) and Giuseppe Luongo (President of Youthstream)

"This difficult decision has been taken with the understanding of Youthstream, the International promoters of the Motocross World Championship, as well as the FIM, the controlling body of world Motorcycle racing. We can’t dwell on the disappointment, however, so we are already looking ahead to 2008 and beyond. We are delighted with the work made by Giuseppe Luongo and his Youthstream team in improving the standards of Motocross all over the world, and that is why we requested a contract for until 2012. We are also thinking of bringing a Motocross of Nations, a SuperMoto Grand Prix and a Women’s World Cup to South Africa in the near future. Obviously, we are looking forward to the continued hosting and promotion of South Africa’s only World Championship Motorsport event,” concluded Shrosbree.

“It’s great Ian was able to fly from South Africa for the day to arrange the problem that arose,” Mr. Luongo said, “This shows the seriousness of his company and proves his will to continue, we trust them very much and we believe the FIM Motocross World Championship has a great future in South Africa. I would like to thank Beaulah Schoeman, Managing Director of Motorsport South Africa, for her help to solve this problem and for her continuous support.

Mr. Luongo continued, “After the cancellation of the Grand Prix of South Africa 2007 some people tried to use this to discredit Youthstream, but the moment we knew South Africa had cancelled we already had 4 organizers propose to take this date, this shows the big interest in MX1. FIM will announce the new venue very shortly. I want to take this occasion to stop the creation of rumours about the Grand Prix of Northern Ireland; this Grand Prix will go ahead following the calendar. The reason for the TBA under the venue is only because as it’s foreseen to hold the Motocross of Nations in 2008 in Northern Ireland they must increase their structures and we have 2 possibilities: either to increase the structure at Ballykelly or to use a new venue with more space. The decision of the venue will be announced soon.”

Youthstream is the company that manages the exclusive television, marketing and promotional world wide rights of the FIM Motocross World Championship, the FIM Motocross of Nations, the FIM SuperMoto World Championship, the FIM SuperMoto of Nations, the FIM Snowcross World Championship, the UEM Motocross European Championship and the UEM SuperMoto European Championship.