With the 2014 Australian Supercross Championship about to roar into life at Bathurst this weekend, championship director Yarrive Konsky has been busy putting the finishing touches to the three-stop/five-round series. Despite the late announcement of fixtures that forced Yamaha’s factory teams to withdraw from the championship, things are certainly looking promising for this year’s series, with rounds help alongside key motorsport events before heading indoors for the final round at Brisbane. We caught up with Konsky to get a bit of insight into what we can expect to see this year and how things are shaping up for this weekend’s opening rounds.

Image: Marc Jones.

Yarrive, we’re on the cusp of another supercross championship. How are things looking for the opening two rounds at Bathurst?

It’s all shaping up really well. Pre-sales on tickets have gone exceptionally well, and although I’m not sure if that’s an accurate indication of what we can expect over the weekend, it’s certainly been encouraging. Rider entries have been terrific and we’re going to have to run heats and a main in both senior classes. Although Yamaha’s factory teams aren’t competing we will still have the vast majority of the country’s best riders here and that’s going to result in some fantastic racing. As for the track, it’s going to be huge. We really enjoy building tracks that emulate what we see in the US and Bathurst will be as big as anything we’ve seen in Australia. Lap-times will probably be between 48 and 52 seconds.

Have you made any changes to the championship from last year?

No, nothing has changed. We’ve maintained the same level of commitment to track size, marketing, media exposure as we did last year and will run the same classes and formats. As an organisation we questioned including the 250cc two-strokes against the 250cc four-strokes, but Motorcycling Australia has made the decision to maintain the class as it stands. Personally I think they’re two different motorcycles. Apart from the engine size they’re completely different in weight and power output and I believe they should be separated into two different classes. You don’t see V6s racing against V8s, so I don’t see why motorcycling should be any different.

How well did the Bathurst Regional Council receive your application to host an event on the same weekend as the Bathurst 1000?

From the Council’s perspective, it’s great that there are events being held outside of the V8 Supercars race. One of the biggest concerns is having 10s of thousands of people with nothing to do in the evenings once they return from Mt Panorama, so it’s more advantageous for them to provide some alternative or additional motorsport racing. After decades of having the same weekend format, they’re happy to have something additional for the visitors to do.

You sort of touched on it earlier, but how have ticket sales been for this weekend?

We’ve seen about 4000 pre-sold tickets and our objective is to have between 8-10,000 people through the gates over the two nights. The venue is enormous and could comfortably hold 7000 people with great viewing for everyone. People can buy tickets at the gate as well as through australiansupercross.com.au. It’s shaping up to be a great start to the series; the town is chaotic at the moment and it’s going to get even moreso over the next couple of days.

Image: Marc Jones.

And you mentioned that you’re pleased with the rider turnout.

We’re definitely happy with the numbers and will have full gates in both the senior classes. The Under 19s class is down a little, but no moreso from last year. I think it’s a class that skipped a generation of supercross riders because for four years there were no junior races available in the championship. We have to work on that to rebuild and help the participation of the younger classes.

You’re bringing the series back indoors for the Brisbane finale. What made you decide to head down that path, when, until now, the focus has been on showgrounds and outdoor venues?

There are two parts to this answer. Going by the success of the Crusty Demons and the Nitro Circus Live tours, the reality is people appreciate the creature comforts that a stadium provides. Venues of the size of the Brisbane Entertainment Centre are generally well-serviced by public transport – Boondall train station is only a few minutes’ walk from the arena – and you need to take that into consideration when encouraging a bigger crowd. Secondly, we want to encourage new corporate partners into this exciting sport, and to do this you need the corporate facilities to entertain guests and families. Having potential partners sitting outdoors on the side of a hill for a few hours isn’t really something that appeals when they could be in a stadium with the creature comforts close at hand.

It’ll be interesting to see a return to the tighter, arenacross style tracks as well.

Yeah, with the size of the Brisbane Entertainment Centre the track will be smaller than normal, but we’re still planning on having five lanes and will utilise every piece of space there is. We’ve had an engineer design the track specifically to the available space in order to maximise what we can do with it.

Finally, what’s your thinking behind running double-header events at Bathurst and Phillip Island? And will there be any track changes between the two days to mix it up?

No, there won’t be any track changes. The primary reason to run double-headers is that we want to make the series about – and for – the riders. At Phillip Island we don’t have an option – we’re required to provide entertainment on both days as the MotoGP is an enormous global event and part of our agreement with them is to provide entertainment both days. But as with Bathurst, instead of running heats and qualifying one day and then the finals the second night, we’re running one round each night. This effectively doubles the prize-money and points available to the riders, and provides more incentive to the riders and teams to compete. At the same time, it expands the series from three rounds to five, which can only be great for the sport.

Awesome stuff, thanks Yarrive. I’ll let you get back to it. All the best for the weekend.

Thanks, bud. I appreciate it.