SuperX cancelled for 2012
Substantial financial losses - over the four years of the event - were cited by GAS as the reason for pulling out of promoting supercross in Australia, with "a number of factors" leading to the finacial losses.
Super X exploded onto the Australian market in 2008, bringing innovations like live television coverage of every round - a first for any series in the world, new race formats, world class tracks at premiere venues around Australia and New Zealand as well as the biggest supercross crowds and international riders ever seen in Australasia. Despite all these positives, a successive decline in ticket sales has left the series financially non-viable after four consecutive years of losses and a multimillion dollar investment in the sport.
Managing Director of Global Action Sports, Michael Porra, said he was incredibly disappointed with this outcome.
"It is with very heavy hearts we have made this decision, but the bottom line is that there are not enough paying fans to support the huge expense of putting this series on. Even in year 2 with Chad Reed racing at every round we saw a significant decline in ticket sales where we averaged approximately 6,000 fans per round. This trend continued in year 3 and in year 4 we averaged only 3,500 fans per round resulting in a 7 figure loss.
"Australia is a very competitive market for action sports as well as mainstream sport and entertainment, and this combined with a very poor economy has definitely played a huge factor in this unfortunate outcome.
"We had a very ambitious vision for the sport of supercross in Australasia and have invested millions of dollars into this series, but unfortunately there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel and we cannot afford to continue with these huge losses.
"I have very much enjoyed my time getting to know the sport and along with my team, we have done all we can to try and make the series a success. I really hate the thought of giving up, but I am left with no choice.
"I would like to thank Motorcycling Australia, Monster Energy, Williams Event Management and everyone who has contributed to the series over the years and wish them all the best for the future," concluded Porra.
Kevin Williams of Williams Event Management and David White, CEO of Motorcycling Australia, expressed their disappointment at the announcement, but acknowledged the reasons behind the GAS decision.
Following the GAS announcement, Motorcycling Australia has put a call out for expressions of interest from promoters to host the 2012 series. At this stage, any organised national supercross championship for this year seems unlikely, with a 2013 series the most optimistic outcome.
GAS will now focus on directing their resources to promoting the 'Nitro Circus' live freestyle MX events.
Image: Sport the Library
