The participants of the Sporting Commissions at Fiumicino, near Rome
The FIM Europe Commission Meetings continued today with the second session of Sporting Commissions, which followed the first session of Sporting Commissions in October and which will be followed by the Non-Sporting Commissions next January.
The meeting was held, as in the past, at the Tiber Hotel in Fiumicino, near Rome (Italy). In this second session, the meetings of Road Racing, Track Racing, Enduro and Vintage were held, with the participation of the FIM Europe President Dr Wolfgang Srb, of Sporting Council Chairman Martin de Graaff and of FIM Europe Secretary General Alessandro Sambuco. Joining the meeting, also Rezsö Bulcsu, Director of the Circuit Racing Commission of FIM and Armando Castagna, Director of Track Racing Commission of FIM.
The Road Racing Commission, chaired by Mr Ejgil Solkaer
Road Racing Commission
“Very good decisions were taken during the meeting”, stated Mr Ejgil Solkaer, FIM Europe Road Racing Commission Chairman. “Completely new is that we are going to have Street Freestyle, a new discipline that will be on test next year with one round in Hungary. The Commission is very pleased with the cooperation with Dorna and the new classes we have: the European Superstock 1000 Championship at the European rounds of WSBK and the European Superstock 300 together with Alpe Adria Motorcycle Union. The Supersport 600 Cup has been confirmed to go on next year at the European rounds of the World Superbike. We’ll also be running the Hill Climb with 5 rounds next year, and the Supermono Cup, too. We’ll have a special working group for Minimoto Road Racing, since we expect to have a new championship in 2017”.
The Track Racing Commission, chaired by Mr Piotr Szymanski
Track Racing Commission
“The meeting was very long but it went well”, stated Mr Piotr Szymanski, Track Racing Commission Chairman. “The FIM Track Racing Commission Director Armando Castagna was present, too. A very important topic we discussed about, was how to find out more possibilities for young riders to catch experience in Track Racing disciplines.The members gave a lot of valuable proposals about the rules and new regulations and we studied very deeply the amendments to the “FIM Europe Organisers Track Racing Work Manual”. Of course we reviewed the season and we worked on the calendar and venues for 2017. We also talked about safety on tracks and especially about new rules which allowed to improve protection for riders. We assigned a lot of tasks to our members and they committed to work very hard on them. I am glad the members of the Commission want to be deeply involved in the work. I am also happy the 2016 season went very well without any problems and of course I am confident that the next season will bring us the new goals we wish to achieve”.
The Enduro and Rally Commission, chaired by Mr Marco Bolzonello
Enduro and Rally Commission
“As usual the Commission meeting was rather long, also because all members are really involved in the various disciplines”, stated Mr Marco Bolzonello, Enduro and Rally Commission Chairman. “The topics concerned the promotion of the Extreme Enduro, of the Cross Country and of the two events of Superenduro Cup which will be held together with World Superenduro Championship. As for Enduro, we defined the calendar for 2017. As for Bajas, we added in our calendar the race asked by Bulgarian Federation and we are still waiting for FIM to clarify some technical rules about the UTV vehicles. As for Cross Country, the good news is that next year we shall have one round in Iceland. We have received with pleasure the proposal from the Vintage Commission concerning some Enduro rounds together with historic bikes. Our Commission is favourable, but we must wait to know whether the Federations which asked to host a round of European Enduro Championship also agree to have Vintage bikes on track. Details will be fixed in a short time”.
The Vintage Commission, chaired by Mr José Campos Costa
Vintage Commission
“One important point is that we have a new member, Jordi Villalba, from the RFME, Spain”, stated Mr José Campos Costa, Vintage Commission Chairman. “We have discussed our situation regarding this year, with the Road Racing Championship and the Endurance Classic Series which were very successful. For next year we have some calendar suggestions regarding the Road Racing, and we are waiting from our promoter DGSport the dates for the ECS. We have been discussing also Enduro, as we have had an observer at the Six Days in Navarra. We hope to organise next year an Enduro Cup as we have already completed the rules. For that we have met with the Enduro Commission and we are going to study together the possibility of running some races of this Championship together with Classic Cup.
“We are concerned about the level of participation of young riders in Classic races and we want to suggest to the Management Council that this matter is taken up by the FIM Europe, because otherwise Classic Races and, more important, the Classic bikes themselves, will disappear!”
Mr Martin de Graaff, FIM Europe 1st Deputy President, stated: “Like two weeks ago, four FIM Europe Commissions had their meeting in Fiumicino. All events of the current year, from the Congress in July until this meeting, were evaluated. The results of the competions have been approved. New classes, changes of regulations and developments for the next season were discussed. A positive development is the better cooperation between FIM and FIM Europe: it was highly appreciated to meet two FIM Sporting directors, Rezsö Bulcsu and Armando Castagna in our meetings. In a good atmosphere the Commissions worked together with the Management Council and the Staff”.
“The new meeting circle, where the European Commissions come together on the same weekend and at the same venue, is already very well established”, stated Dr Wolfgang Srb, FIM Europe President. “The presence of the FIM Commission Directors adds additional value and underlines the principle of the closest possible cooperation. I am very happy with the work the European Federations and the officials have carried out and I like to thank them for their great efforts. We are in the process of finishing 2016 with some formal meetings and are already very excited about all the events in 2017″.
