FIM Europe Sporting Commissions
Halfway through this sporting season, the FIM Europe Sporting Commissions meetings took place via videoconference in order to take the stock of the current year and discuss the future prospects.
Despite the impossibility of physically interfacing, the virtual meetings were also attended by the FIM Europe President Martin de Graaff, the 1st Deputy President Michal Sikora and Paola Bianchetti and Silvia D’Amico, responsible for sport matters in the office.
Mr Martin de Graaff, FIM Europe President
“In June and July the Sporting Commissions organized the meetings which normally should take place during the FIM Europe congress. It’s a good occasion for the commissions to evaluate the first part of the season and prepare the rest. Almost all commission members joined the meetings. Two commission did not meet as commission but communicated regularly: the Motoball Commission postponed the championship to next year, while the Dragrace Commission had a lack of a European Championship Dragrace and the FIM Europe is negotiating with the promoter a new contract for the coming years. All commission members will be invited for meetings in Fiumicino in October and November. The outcome of the meetings will be reported by the Sporting Presidents in the Management Council meeting on 3 August. We all appreciate the flexibility of our commissions and all volunteers. It was and it’s still difficult to follow all calendars changes and venues. In all events we could rely on the teams of officials which is necessary to run events in the right way. Thank you for that, all the best in the second part of 2021”.
Mr Michal Sikora, FIM Europe 1st Deputy President
“Unfortunately, again we were not able to meet face to face with our Commissions. But luckily almost all commissions were able to meet and discuss via videoconferencing. I would like to thank all members for their contribution and all job done during this hard season. I hope it will get better and we will be able to meet during our scheduled autumn sessions”.
Enduro & Rally Commission
The commission discussed about the Covid situation in our different countries and the first half part of the season. All the results of the Championships and Cups in Enduro, Cross Country, Rally and Bajas have been approved. The members also started to work with the rules and calendars for next season.
Mr Robert Svensson, Chairman Enduro & Rally Commission
“We had a very good meeting with all commission members present and active in the discussions. We also talked about future in our disciplines and what we can do to get more riders for our sports. We will continue the work with calendars and rules during the season”.
Track Racing Commission
The TRC met one day after the successful Final of the Euro Championship Series in Rybnik. The main concern was the development of the pandemic situation in some countries which affected Grass Track and Sidecar Championships seriously. The Commission faced the plans for 2022.
Mr Piotr Szymański, Chairman Track Racing Commission
“The SEC series started this year with Challenge and then four televised Final meetings took place, confirming the growing importance of the European Championship. New projects which should upgrade the quality of organization of the Track Racing events and support for the referees were discussed with the use of modern tools. The rest of the season hopefully should be good but new organizers are needed for grass final”.
Supermoto Commission
Various topics related to the problems of the European Supermoto Championships and Cups in 2021 were discussed and provisional calendars for the championships and cups were presented. The commission, together with the promoter XIEM, is already working on the 2022 plan for revival of the discipline.
Mr Ivo Tsvetanov, Chairman Supermoto Commission
“The current situation and travel restrictions have a strong impact on the development of the Supermoto. We are all confident in a better second part of the season and a new one. We are already working on the new year together the promoter XIEM”.
Trial Commission
Small changes of the rules were proposed and discussed. The main topic of the meeting was the current situation and the development of the second part of the year: one GP has been raced and other one is scheduled.
Mr Magnus Liljeblad, Chairman Trial Commission
“During the meeting we discussed the current situation. One event has been raced, but two cancelled. We are now hoping for the last one in the Czech Republic in the beginning of August. We discussed about some changes in the rules and a new promoter interested to run the European Trial Championship”.
Vintage Commission
Vintage Commission meet via zoom for the second time since Covid pandemic stopped to meet personally. The meeting was very productive and lot of different things have been faced. During the meeting future licenses system were discussed as well as calendars and cancelled races.
Mr Igor Bošković, Chairman Vintage Commission
“This is a very tough time for all of us with a great impact to our races. But, with additional engagement of our members, we succeeded to implement new discipline, Vintage Motocross, with two events this year, and every event will have two races. In addition, all of our six disciplines will have events this year. We hope for a normal next 2022”.
Road Racing Commission
President Martin de Graaff and 1st Deputy President Michal Sikora were present at the start of the meeting. During the first part Alos Franck Vassiey, FIM CCR director, joined the meeting and spoke about the first part of the season in FIM World Championships and actual difficulties with travel restrictions and Covid protocols. Then the Commission reported about the start of the season in the different disciplines and also about some cancelations due to the pandemic.
Mr Martin Hejduk, Chairman Road Racing Commission
“The meeting was very successfully even if some members could not join it because of busy in national races. We are satisfied of the discussions and looking forward to our next meeting which is planned personally in Fiumicino in October”.
Motocross & Snowcross Commission
The Chairman reported on the events in all classes so far this year. The CMS Director reported on the work that the FIM is doing, in conjunction with the manufacturers, to reduce sound levels of the motorcycles for the future, but this is a reasonably long process. There will be no tolerance from next year in the post-race sound testing. The Infront Sport Racing representative informed the meeting about the new timekeeping system used at all events combined with MXGP which involves GPS tracking and other new initiatives.
Mr Eddie Herd, Chairman Motocross & Snowcross Commission
“I’m satisfied with the events of this year, including the Snowcross Championship, and entries in all classes: the level is very acceptable considering the Covid restrictions and travel difficulties. Thank you to the President Mr Martin de Graaff, who virtual attended the meeting”.
