Image: Jeff Crow.

Coolum’s final round of the 2015 MX Nationals will double as an FIM Oceania Championship event over 29-30 August in Queensland.

The FIM Oceania is one of the six Continental Unions of the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Motocross, trials, speedway and road racing will all have Oceania events in Australia.

Australia and New Zealand are the two countries that make up membership of the FIM Oceania, with the FIM Oceania Management Council made up of delegates from both Motorcycling Australia (MA) and Motorcycling New Zealand (MNZ).

President of the FIM Oceania, Jim Tuckerman, said that the addition of FIM Oceania competitions to established national events would only add to the quality of the racing.

“I personally believe that FIM Oceania can assist both MA and MNZ riders for competition and it’s extremely gratifying that we’ve been able to get the three championships up for 2015 and for the speedway in 2016,” Tuckerman said.

“The beauty of running them with events such as the MX Nationals and ASBK is that there are top New Zealanders already competing within Australian championships. I believe that the beauty of Australia versus New Zealand gives the media the ability to draw attention to it.

“Effectively what we’ve got is a Bledisloe Cup and this is one of the reasons why I pushed to put FIM Oceania into the national events, because it gives the national championships another string to their bow to bring more attention to motorcycling as a whole and that is FIM Oceania’s goal.”

MA CEO Dale Gilson commended the return of the FIM Oceania Championships and the potential benefits the arrangement would bring to national championship events.

“The addition of the FIM Oceania Championships will certainly add to the spectacle of our national championships in Australia,” Gilson said. “Both nations have a proud motorcycling history, and it is exciting that we are able to reignite the healthy trans-Tasman rivalry we have had with New Zealand over the years.”