Guiseppe is looking to bring the prestige back to the name "USGP."
Guiseppe is looking to bring the prestige back to the name “USGP.”

A massive turn of events for the sport of motocross, both in Europe and America has happened in America this week, with an agreement between Youthstream and MXsport to run the USGP and MXoN together. Below is an interview with Giuseppe Luongo from Youthstream. Tomorrow an interview with Davey Coombs will be on MXLarge and MotoXAddicts. Exciting time for our sport, and I for one am very excited with this news. Check out Geoff Meyer’s interview with Guiseppe below.

Can you explain the deal with Davey Coombs, which tracks are in line, what dates, possible situations for the future?

The agreement between Youthstream and MX Sports is to cooperate together in promoting Youthstream events in the United States. The US MXGP date will be Labor Day (1st weekend of September) and the MXoN will be held on the last weekend of September or the first weekend of October. Thanks to this agreement we are able to move the US Motocross of Nations from 2019 to 2018, and the 2019 MXoN event will be held in Holland. This principle is valid for the future so MXGP will go to USA every year and the MXoN will go there every 4 / 5 years.

 

I can imagine making a deal like this, when it comes to the connection with MXGP in America is a good deal. How important is this deal for the future of the USGP and possibly an MXoN in USA?

This is very important for the future of our sport. USA is the biggest off-road market in the world and to develop our events there it’s important to have the strongest partner.

 

The USGP for whatever reason hasn’t been able to find a home. Glen Helen should have worked but didn’t, Charlotte seemed like the perfect place to start a real history with the USGP, just as Carlsbad and Unadilla did in the past, but it didn’t work out. What will make this deal different?

The difference is the cooperation with MX Sports. MX Sports represents the entire Motocross in USA, not only the professional with the AMA Nationals, but also they have a very large Amateur series. Our competitors are all the other major sports like Football, Formula 1, Soccer, Basketball, Baseball, etc. Other Motocross promoters are not our competitors; we have to work together to make Motocross as big as possible.

 

The relationship between your self and Davey Coombs, hasn’t always been a good one. What is your general feeling of Davey Coombs?

Davey is a true Motocross enthusiast, who together with his family and all their staff work very hard to promote MX in USA, he knows the sport and business very well and he has created a very strong National Championship in the United States. He does a lot to promote the youth and amateur, and over many years of experience he is very well-known and respected, Davey really wants to succeed with MXGP and MXoN events in USA in the same way he has succeeded with all the events he does.

The USGP in Charlotte last year was successful overall, but it still lacked that old school USGP flavor. Photo by: Chase Yocom
The USGP in Charlotte last year was successful overall, but it still lacked that old school USGP flavor. Photo by: Chase Yocom

The American media are slowly coming around and running a lot more Grand Prix stories, sending media from RacerX, Vitalmx, Motoxaddicts, Dirt Bike magazine, Transworld Motocross, and many more leading American websites seem to be investing into their GP coverage. How important is this for our growth in USA?

It’s very important, as I said before, USA is the biggest off-road market in the world; large parts of our sponsorship come from USA and all the motorcycle manufacturers are strongly present in USA. Via the various media platforms there are a lot of American Motocross fans following MXGP, which is the country that invented the social media.

 

The two world of Europe and America are so different. American’s have always done a good job with their coverage of their sporting events, but they don’t always get International events, like football, F1, MotoGP, MXGP. Why do you think that is?

America is a very big and rich country, it’s as big as all of Europe put together with a similar number of inhabitants, therefore, from the beginning they have developed their own sports like American Football, Basketball, Baseball, NASCAR, IndyCar and others. That’s why I think a lot of European sports in America are less prominent and don’t have the same coverage, and are therefore not in a position to compete with American sports in USA, but I think with the right partner, and now we have with MX Sports, MXGP will succeed because Motocross is the same in America as it is in the rest of the World; the Regulations are very similar, the manufacturers and sponsors are the same and often even the riders are the same.

 

I know you son David has a lot to do with this deal. He was very excited when speaking to him in Indonesia. How good does it feel to know this deal was in his hands?

David, together with Daniele Rizzi are the future of our company. Both are very young, professional and motivated, and they are the engines for all the new developments of our Championship. David is a sportsman, he was a professional football player for many years, but he was born into and grew up in a Motocross family and Motocross has always been in his heart, for this reason he decided to stop his professional career in football to dedicate himself fully to Motocross.

 

If you could dream, what is the perfect situation for MXGP in America?

This dream is currently materializing into a reality, and that is to cooperate with MX Sports to organize and a US MXGP event annually with an MXoN every few years on a high level with a lot of spectators, great TV coverage and the participation of all the American riders. When fans leave the event, we want to see them happy with the top-class racing.

 

As far as Supercross goes, is there any talks with Feld for the future?

Feld is an FIM partner and we have a good relation with them, but we have no plans of working together for the future.

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