Grand Prix of Great Britain returns to Matterley Basin in 2011

In a press conference held at the Grand Prix of Limburg at Lommel, Youthstream announced that from 2011 the Grand Prix of Great Britain will be held at the famous race track of Matterley Basin, Winchester. The event will be organized in cooperation with Mr. Steve Dixon -organizing the Grand Prix and the Motocross of Nations in Matterley Basin in 2006- and with the ACU, Great Britain's Motorcycling Federation.

The press conference hosted Youthstream's President Mr. Giuseppe Luongo, FIM/CMS President Dr. Wolfgang Srb, Local Promoter Mr. Steve Dixon, ACU's Motocross Commission Member Mr. Chris Warren, as all welcomed the return of such a great venue in the FIM Motocross World Championship calendar.

Matterley Basin is located in the South of Great Britain, just by the city of Winchester, and in 2006 it successfully played host to the GP of Great Britain as well as the Motocross of Nations, the latter event hosting 85000 spectators in the amphitheatre like venue.

Mr. Giuseppe Luongo, the Youthstream President, stated: "I'm very happy to work again with Steve, the UK is a very important area where we have a lot of fans and a lot interest in Motocross. We have a very positive experience after working with Steve, having hosted a record crowd in the 2006 Motocross of Nations, but to give stability FIM, ACU and Youthstream are talking together and we need again Steve to be the master of the operations in the UK. We have a long time agreement now and I'm sure that with the experience from the past we will do even a better Gran Prix."

Mr. Steve Dixon, the local promoter, continued: "I'm very happy to be involved again in the organization. The landowner has worked really hard in the last four years to have all the planning permissions. We have already 100 volunteers who will start working on the event. This year we did not have a British GP, so we have to make up for that and this is actually what I'm doing, everybody knows that Motocross is my passion and I'm very glad to be back working with the FIM, Youthstream and the ACU."

ACU's Motocross Commission Member Mr. Chris Warren added: "On behalf of the ACU I would like to say that we are very pleased to give Steve and his team full backing. He is done a marvelous job to get all the planning. The ACU will support anything he needs and we'll make sure that we can provide it. We think that Matterley Basin is the venue that we want for the British GP, it is the venue that produces maybe the best atmosphere and we are very pleased that the FIM Motocross World Championship is back in England."

Dr. Wolfgang Srb, FIM/CMS President, added: "The British GP is very important in our agenda. The History of the country and the History of the sport, the fans that show up at the GP and all the British teams that we have in the Championship deserve a home GP. It's very important for us to have ACU here with us giving full support to the event, so we hope to find the home of the British GP for many years to come. We all know that Steve is very good and everyone is very pleased to work with him. Good luck and congratulations to the people who made it possible."

Photo: From left to right: Warren, Srb, Luongo, Dixon