FIM Press Release - Year 2000 Dates

Posted: Sun 24 Oct 1999

Annecy, October 23 1999

Superbike World Championship
Supersport World Championship
Sidecar World Cup
The 2000 calendar of the Superbike World Championship, Supersport World Championship and Sidecar World Cup is the following :

United States
DatesCountryCircuitSupersportSidecar
March 12SpainValenciaSupersportSidecar
April 2South AfricaKyalamitbc
April 23AustraliaPhillip Islandtbctbc
April 30JapanSugotbc
May 14Great BritainDonington ParkSupersportSidecar
May 21ItalyMonzaSupersportSidecar
June 4GermanyHockenheimSupersportSidecar
June 18San MarinoMisanoSupersportSidecar
July 9Laguna Seca
August 6EuropeBrands HatchSupersportSidecar
August 27Tbatbatbatba
September 3NetherlandsAssenSupersportSidecar
September 10GermanyOscherslebenSupersportSidecar
October 15ItalyImola- tbcSupersportSidecar
Tba: to be announced
Tbc: to be confirmed

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Agreement between the FIM and SBK International for Endurance

The FIM and SBK International, the company which is part of the Octagon Motorsports Group, have reached an agreement regarding the management of the Endurance World Championship. This Championship includes some of the greatest international motorcycle events, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Bol d\'Or and the Suzuka 8 Hours, with an attendance of hundreds of thousands of spectators. The agreement has been welcomed with great pleasure by the Octagon Group which is, at present, the third world-wide sporting marketing company, with more than 800 employees in 17 countries on 5 continents. The Octagon Motorsports\' goal is to upgrade the Endurance World Championship as it was done in the last ten years with the Superbike World Championship, which is, at the present time, one of the world leaders in motorsport with an audience of more than 2 billions per year and with a record number of 120\'000 spectators at the Brands Hatch round.

FIM President Francesco Zerbi said: \"As the Endurance World Championship is raced by Superbike machines, Endurance and Superbike are obviously very close in technical aspects, but also in spirit, as the motorcycles used for these competitions are close to Production Series motorcycles.

Moreover, SBK International has been carrying out excellent work for the development of the Superbike World Championship, and I am confident that the same level of work will be reached for the Endurance\".

Mr. Maurizio Flammini, Chairman of Octagon Motorsports, commented: \"Our co-operation with the FIM produced outstanding results for the motorcycling sport growth in the last 15 years through the Superbike World Championship, and with the Endurance World Championship, we expect to generate new fantastic opportunities for all the parties involved in our beloved sport.

The FIM\'s renewed trust in SBK International and Octagon is the foundation and the motive power to make the FIM Endurance World Championship another \"case history\" of the modern motorcycle sport. Octagon will invest already from the 2000 season, remarkable human and economical resources in the international television production and distribution as well as in the media promotion bringing the necessary technology to upgrade the quality level of the Endurance World Championship\".

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Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix - 2000 Calendar

The 2000 calendar of the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix is the following :

DatesGrand PrixCircuit
March 19South AfricaWelkom
April 2ArgentinaBuenos Aires - tbc
April 9JapanSuzuka
April 30SpainJerez de la Frontera
May 14FranceLe Mans
May 28ItalyMugello
June 11CatalunyaCatalunya
June 24NetherlandsAssen
July 9Great BritainDonington Park
July 23GermanySachsenring
August 20Czech RepBrno
September 3PortugalEstoril - tbc
September 17Comunidad ValencianaSPA Valencia
October 7RioJacarepaguá
October 15PacificTwin Ring Motegi
October 29AustraliaPhillip Island
Reserve: Imola Grand Prix
Tbc:to be confirmed