SINGAPORE – September is set to be a high-octane month for racing fans in Singapore, with two grands prix coming to town.
The Republic will host a leg of the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) for the first time on Sept 30, organisers announced on Thursday. This takes place two weeks after the Sept 15-17 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix.
Supercross is a motorcycle race on specifically built dirt tracks with steep jumps and obstacles. The WSX Singapore Grand Prix, which is the only Asian stop on the championship’s six-race calendar for 2023, will be held at the National Stadium with 40 racers from 10 teams competing.
They include 2022 WSX champion Ken Roczen, as well as others like Kyle Chisholm, Colt Nichols, Cedric Soubeyras and Dean Wilson.
Supercross fan Bryan Kuang, who has watched the sport for 27 years, cannot wait to watch the Singapore event in person.
The 44-year-old said: “Supercross is the most extreme sport. The 25 minutes of non-stop action keep my heart pumping every second.”
Another fan, Shamsul Fadhli, is also hoping to catch the race action up close.
“It’ll give us an opportunity to see how fast they actually are in real life because to just ride a supercross track requires a lot of skill and precision,” said the 34-year-old.
Sports presenter Claire Jedrek just loves the fact that “we get to enjoy two world-class events without having to fly anywhere”.
This will not be the first time that a supercross race is held in Singapore. In 2003, the Republic hosted the FIM Asian Supercross Championship at Turf City.
The WSX’s 2023 calendar starts with the British GP at Birmingham’s Villa Park on July 1, with races also in Lyon (July 22), Dusseldorf (Oct 14), Vancouver (Oct 28) and Melbourne (Nov 24-25).
Its Singapore stop is set to draw fans from Asia and across the globe to witness heart-stopping action and gravity-defying stunts.
Event promoter SX Global’s chief executive officer Adam Bailey said Singapore is a “fantastic” location for WSX because “it’s one of the world’s travel hubs and is central to huge masses of the population throughout Asia”, adding that the National Stadium provides the ideal venue to stage a supercross racing event.
“Within a three-hour flight of Singapore are the world’s largest motorcycle markets, including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, making South-east Asia an extremely important region for the (WSX) as we continue to expand our global footprint,” he said.
He is also excited about the collaboration with Lushington Entertainments, which also helms the F1 Singapore GP, saying that they are ”experts at combining world championship motor sport and entertainment”.
Fans can register at WSXChampionship.com to be alerted when tickets go on sale.
