Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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2D02 Motocross des Nations Track Operator Malcolm McCassy received calls from everyone I know! Everyone has called over and said to me, "Anything that you want, we will help you." Jeff Surwall and Marty Moates [both of No Fear] were the first people to call and offer their help. Tom White [of White Bothers] has offered to donate his entire staff! Don Emler and Danny laPorte [of FMF] have called to offer their support, and so has Jim O'Neal [of O'neal]. Guys I have been friends with since I was a kid have been calling me. The whole industry is excited, and everyone has said, "We're with you!" GOing back to the supercross attendance figures you cited, what type of attendance figure are you anticipating for the 2002 Motocross des Nations? The number projected by the people I've been working with is pretty big. I'm being told we're going to get 10,000 fans from Europe. They pulled a crowd of 35,000 at Belgium last September, and we've received a large number of enquiries from fans in Europe, many of whom will come here for a week and make a vacation out of it. But being conservative, let's say we get 5000. Excluding California, from the other 49 states we're hoping to get 10,000 fans attending. Of the 200,000 fans that went to see a supercross in Southern California this year, I believe 85,000 of them to be first-timers - in other words, unlike most of us involved in the sport who went to more than one event. If I do my job promoting and get help from guys like yourself, we're hoping to get 15 to 20 percent of those fans. There are 23 million people in Southern California. If we promote this right, we're hoping to get three generations of fans at the event - the grandfather, the father and the son, who may never get to see it again. The event will also come at the same time of the anniversary of September 11. There is a lot of patriotism in the country right now. So, factoring all of this together, we're basically hoping to attract a crowd of approximately 40,000 fans. And if we're that lucky, we will not sell many more tickets than that. I will not over-sell it. Have you begun to look at things such as police and security? be for small kids. The facility will also have two veteran tracks, a quad track and the international track. Has the International track been built yet? Q No. We're awaiting the track specifics from the FIM and will build it accordingly. Any truth to the rumors that the track will be very supercross-oriented in nature? YOU will not see any supercross criteria on the track. To make it like a supercross track would be a mistake. There are 40 countries coming to take part in this, and a number of them don't ride supercross well enough. Some guys are great at supercross, but most aren't. That being the case, there won't be any suicide triples on the track. How big will the track be? A Q A Q one-point-five to 1.7 kilometers in length [.93 to 1.05 miles]. The track will be fairly short. Lap times will be a shade under two minutes. We had to use the land that was available to us. The Army Corp of Engineers regulates most of the land in this country. In monitoring all of it, they utilize what is called a Blue Line. If water runs over any section of land for more than one minute a year, we can't touch it. That takes all the hillside land away from us. Even on Indian land, this rule holds true because the Indians have an agreement with the U.S. Government. In the future, you will see more and more rectangular-shaped motocross venues, because that is the land that will be available to us. Most people agree that Southern California is the place to hold the Motocross des Nations. That being the case, have you developed any kind of feel as to what type of fan and industry support the 2002 Motocross des Nations will receive? We had three sellouts at Anaheim this past January, and San Diego almost sold out. Over 200,000 people wanted to watch a supercross or motocross race thus far this year [in Southern California]. I hope, for the sake of all of us, we will be able to count on some of those people to attend our event. As far as the industry is concerned, I have A Q A Q You have to use your l...-ginatlon a bit, but this Is the site of the 2003 MX des NatIons track. H you look closely, you can see the McCanys and Faccluto standing on a mound In the center of the SO-acre facility. 24 APRIL 24, 2002' cue • • n .. _ s My wife and I are heavily involved with Cops for Kids. We've also been involved with the Fire and Police Olympics. I know a guy named Howard Ballard that already has 300 active-duty police officers that will participate just for the joy of doing it. A man named Ed Wilson of the Fire and Police Olympics will have 300 police and firemen on hand in tribute. What about ticket availability? A Q On April 23, we'll 'have a major press conference at the St. Regis Hotel in Orange County to announce most of the details of the event. At that same time, the Motocross des Nations Web site will also be up and running, where fans can purchase tickets and merchandise. We will also sell tickets in Southern California motorcycle shops and at No Fear retail outlets. From an infrastructure standpoint, where will you put 40,000 fans? We will have grandstand seating for 8000 people. We will also build large sound barriers, which will be 25 to 30 feet high. We'll polish up the berms, and people will be able to sit on them. The east- and west-side berms will sit 10,000 and 12,000, respectively. The smaller back-side berm will sit 8000. People will be able to sit on them and watch from all levels. The word on the street is that the Motocross des Nations is, historically, a money-losing event. Can you make money? lf it goes well and we make some money, I'll be real happy. It's a highly speculative deal. It takes a major commitment to get all the people from Europe over here. But we feel it's worth taking a shot. If we do well with the event, we hope to get a Grand Prix every year. If that happens, we'll have 20 years to recoup any money we'll lose. We feel it's a good investment in the sport. People really want to help us. I mean, you can have all the money in the world, but without people helping you, it would all fall apart. What about details such as the pit area? A Q A Q A Q