A new era in international racing was ushered in with another incarnation of the FIM World Supercross Championship

WORDS: STEVE MATTHES
PHOTOS: SX Global

When the starting gate dropped in Cardiff, Wales’ Principality Stadium on the evening of October 8, it marked the beginning of the new FIM World Supercross Championship. It was also the penultimate round of what ended up being a two-stop “pilot season” for this new venture by the Australia-based promotional group SX Global. The reigning FIM World Supercross Champion was not there, though, despite the fact that Eli Tomac was there (and ended up winning all three motos). That’s because in the FIM’s eyes it’s 2021 AMA Champion Cooper Webb who was their reigning champ, but Red Bull KTM told him to just stay home and start getting ready for what they considered to be the actual world championship of supercross, Monster Energy AMA Supercross. And Tomac wasn’t actually competing in the full series, just the first half of it.

Confused? Welcome to World Supercross: Version 2022.