GLOBAL ACTION SPORTS:

The Australasian Supercross Championship, Super X, has announced global energy drink brand, Monster Energy, as its naming rights sponsor in a multi-year deal.

The naming rights agreement is a boon for Super X and the sport of supercross in Australasia, and is testament to the championship’s hugely successful inaugural year in 2008.

Managing Director of Global Action Sports, Michael Porra, said Monster Energy is the perfect fit for the high adrenaline Super X Championship and is thrilled the series has had cut through in this extremely difficult sponsorship market.

“Super X provides an extremely unique opportunity for Monster Energy to own a growing sport in Australasia and I am so pleased that such an exciting and globally successful brand has agreed to partner with us. It’s a perfect fit for us; a cool brand and a cool sport, and I think our fans will be really comfortable with this association.

“The Monster Energy sponsorship will help us further develop the series into the mainstream. We are now well on our way to having the second biggest supercross championship in the world and becoming a regular feature on the international supercross calendar.”

Monster Energy was created in 2002 and is the largest energy drink company in the USA. It is now in over 30 countries worldwide and sponsors some of the biggest names in sport from across the globe. Monster is also the naming rights sponsor for the AMA Supercross Championship in the USA, which is the biggest supercross championship in the world.

Monster Energy’s Australia and New Zealand Country Manager, Adrian Hunter, said Monster Energy is very excited about coming on board as the naming rights sponsor for Super X and is looking forward to a highly successful and beneficial partnership.

“Super X is the perfect mechanism for us to carry our brand forward in Australia and New Zealand after our highly successful launch into the market place. Our sponsorship of the AMA championship gives us and Super X the opportunity to emulate the success of the US series in this market as well as take it to a whole new level.

“We are looking forward to building the Monster Energy Super X brand and building the sport of supercross. We are also excited about the opportunities this will create for supercross riders here and around the world.”

In 2008 90,000 people filled stadiums across Australia to see the Super X races live and the cumulative television audience across both Fox Sports and Network Ten was four million people in its inaugural year.

Australia has never seen a supercross series like it with a combination of exciting new race formats, full sized US tracks, international supercross legends and live television coverage of every round, which was a first for any supercross series in the world.

In 2009 all of these features will return and for the first time, Super X will hold a race in New Zealand as it continues to develop into Australasia.

This year Super X will deliver the highest quality racing to fans with some of the best riders in the world competing at all or selected rounds including Australia’s most successful supercross rider of all time, Chad Reed; current world champion James ‘Bubba’ Stewart and supercross legend Jeremy McGrath from the USA as well as all of Australia’s best.

For more information on the Monster Energy Super X please visit www.superx.com.au

Monster Energy Super X series schedule:
Date    Location     Venue    Final race format OPEN    Final race format 250cc
October 17    Tasmania      Aurora Stadium, Launceston    Double Header    Double Header
October 24    Victoria    Skilled Stadium, Geelong    Quad Challenge    Quad Challenge
October 31    Western Australia    Burswood Dome, Perth    Round Robin    Super Sprint
November 7    Canberra    Canberra Stadium     Triple Challenge    Triple Challenge
November 14    New South Wales     Parramatta Stadium    Survival    15 lap final
November 21    New Zealand    Waikato Stadium     Quad Challenge    15 lap final
December 5    Queensland    QSAC stadium, Brisbane     Triple Challenge    Triple Challenge