2012: No Glen Helen U.S. GP?
Kit Palmer | July 7, 2011
Youthstream, the organizers of the FIM World Motocross Championship, released its 2012 provisional calendar and missing from the list is the U.S. GP, which for that last two years has been hosted by Glen Helen Raceway in Southern California. No where in the release does it mention the U.S. GP’s omission.However, we spoke with Glen Helen’s track manager Lori Bryant and she said the U.S. GP isn’t dead yet.”It’s not that we’re not doing it [having the race], but we’re waiting for commitments from U.S. riders and teams, so nothing is official yet,” Bryant said. “We still have a good relationship with Youthstream and everything is good between us, we just have to make things feasible for everyone involved.”I’m a little surprised they came out with the schedule already, but we understand that,” Bryant added, “but this doesn’t mean we’re not going to have the U.S. GP. We just have to wait for negotiations after September. We haven’t had time to sit down with the teams yet. We’ll see.”It’s likely, however, that the date of the race will be changed from its current May date.”Some dates have been thrown out there,” Bryant said. “But it probably won’t be as it has been.”There has been talk that, if the U.S. GP does return, it might be held in September.”It’s important we can find a date that can accommodate our best riders and make the U.S. GP a true international event,” Bryant said.
2012 Provisional Calendar
April 8 The Netherlands
April 22 Spain
May 13 Mexico
May 20 Brazil
June 3 France
June 10 Germany
June 24 Latvia
July 1 Sweden
July 29 Belgium
August 5 Czech Republic
August 19 Great Britain
September 2 Benelux
September 9 France
October 7 Bulgaria
October 14 Italy
September 23 MX of Nations Belgium
Kit Palmer | Off-Road Editor
Kit Palmer started his career at Cycle News in 1984 and he’s been testing dirt and streetbikes every since – plus covering any event that uses some form of a knobby tire. He’s also our resident motorcycle mileage man with a commute of 120 miles a day.