Super X press release:

In 2008 the sport of Supercross received a massive shake up with the introduction of Super X, the new Australasian Supercross Championship. A total of 90,000 people packed stadiums across Australia to see the races live and an incredible four million viewers watched the series live on television.

Australia has never seen a Supercross series like it with a combination of exciting new race formats, full sized US tracks, international Supercross legends including two times Australian world champion Chad Reed, and live television coverage of every round, which is a first for any Supercross series in the world.

Huge outdoor venues were packed to capacity and culminated in a crowd of 20,000 people at QSAC in Brisbane for the series decider.

In 2009 Super X will be back bigger and better with more new race formats, the greatest ever Supercross rider, Jeremy McGrath, competing at several rounds, Australian world Supercross champion, Chad Reed, back to defend his title and amazing new venues including a race in New Zealand.

The series will kick off at the Aurora Stadium in Launceston October 17 with its first ever race in Tasmania. The second round will see the championship return to Skilled Stadium in Geelong October 24 before making its way to Perth for the first ever indoor Super X event at the Burswood Dome October 31.

Canberra will host its first Super X event at the Canberra Stadium on November 7 for the fourth round on the calendar then make its way across the Tasman for New Zealand’s first Super X race on November 14.

The penultimate round will be held at Parramatta Stadium November 28 with the venue and state for the final event yet to be decided.

In 2009 the most exciting and popular race formats will return to Super X as well as all new formats that will test riders and their differing strengths. There will also be an exciting and unique exhibition race to add to the entertainment for fans at every round.

Survival, Triple Challenge, Quadruple Challenge, Round Robin, 2 x 10 lap races and the traditional 20 lap race will all feature as a final format in the Open class. This year the 250cc class will also race several events over the new formats.

The incredibly exciting survival format as the name suggests is an all-out battle for survival through four five lap races with a lung busting two minute rest in between. The bottom five are eliminated each time in this format, until only five are left to fight it out. This format made its worldwide debut in Parramatta last year and brought the crowd of 17,000 to their feet with the most cut-throat Supercross racing Australia has ever seen.

The Triple Challenge will see 20 riders fight it out in three separate races of six laps with points gained in each race that go toward their final tally for the round.

Four, five lap races make up the Quadruple challenge and the Round Robin format will consist of multiple races with the highest point scores reaching the final.

The promoter of Super X, Michael Porra, said the different formats were a massive success in 2008 because they are much shorter and faster than the traditional 20 lap races, which resulted in closer racing with absolutely no room for error.

“The exciting new formats in Super X provide a way for every good rider to have a chance of winning on his day. This made for extremely competitive racing because every rider on the track believed they had a chance and went for it. This competitiveness will only get stronger every year, which is great news for Supercross fans.”

All of the Australian riders who competed last year will return to the championship in 2009 as well as more international and top Australian riders who compete in the US to be announced over the coming months.

Fox Sports will once again cover every race live and Network Ten will run a one hour highlights package the weekend after each round. Tracks will be custom designed and built for each venue by internationally renowned American track designer, Jason Barker, and will incorporate many new challenges for riders.

Tickets will go on sale Monday June 29th through www.superx.com.au.

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