THIS WEEK’S LIST OF LUONGO’S GRAND PRIX RULE CHANGES: 10 THINGS YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW IF YOU LIVE EAST OF NOVA SCOTIA

On Jun 25, 2013

The Moe, Larry and Curly of Grand Prix motocross (Left to right?Srb, Ippolito and Luongo).

From what we discern from the official FIM press release regarding 2014 Grand Prix rule changes, Jeffrey Herlings now runs the Grand Prix system and may be adopted by Giuseppe Luongo as part of the 2014 GP plan. You gotta love Grand Prix motocross. Every week or so Youthstream’s Giuseppe Luongo comes out with a new race formats and new rules. Stay tuned next week for a complete reversal of the new rules listed below.

(1) Name change. Don’t ever use the words MX1 ever again. The MX1 class, which really is the 450 class, will now be called the MXGP class. Anyone who calls it MX1 will be invited to the 2014 Bulgaria GP and then never be seen again.

(2) Two motos. The race format for 2014 will be two motos of 30 minutes plus two laps. That is 5 minutes less than last year, but in line with the AMA Nationals.

(3) Entries. In the MX1 class…oops. We mean in the 450 class…oops. We mean in the MXGP class the rider limit will be 30 riders. Lots of luck with that Giuseppe! The 250 class will have 40 riders…even that has become a stretch for the GPs.

(4) MXGP Eastern Bloc. The MX3 class, or as we like to call it the “MXGP Eastern Bloc Championship,” will be abolished.

(5) Please stay. Jeffrey Herlings gets to stay as long as he likes in the 250 class…and he gets to eat lunch at the same table as Giuseppe and Wolfgang. No word on if he gets a 15-second head start on the pack though. This guarantees many more seasons of runaway races in the 250 World Championships. This rule change was written to keep their star player from moving to the USA?even though Herlings has no intention of ever moving to the USA.

(6) Ask and you shall receive. The rule stating that MX2 (250) Champions had to move up after defending their title, now known as the “Jeffrey Herlings Pre-Memorial rule,” was dropped, but KTM didn’t have anything to do with the rule change…really, they didn’t. Did they?

(7) Age limit. The 23-year old age limit rule stays in effect for 2014…and won’t be changed until Jeffrey turns 23…which will be four years. You do know that if Jeffrey was turning 23 next year, that rule would have been dropped… but since he isn’t, there was no need.

(8) 108 percent gone. The 108% qualification rule has been abolished, but the FIM Race Direction has the authority to prevent a rider from starting a GP if KTM doesn’t like that rider.

(9) Bye-Bye, we’re gonna miss you. The Super Final has been abolished. Gosh, why would they do that? It was such a rousing success.

(10) The strange truth. These rule changes may seem strange, but in light of what Giuseppe Luongo had proposed for 2014 this is all roses and kisses. This amounts to a major defeat for Luongo and his minion. MXA has obtained a copy of the Luongo’s secret 2014 proposals and what he wanted to do would have changed the tradition, history, class structure, format and values of motocross drastically. The rule changes above are a major victory for those who want to protect the heritage of motocross (thanks to those who fought the good fight). And of course it was a major victory for Jeffrey Herlings (and, in truth, throwing a guy out of an official World Championship class because he wins it is stupid…just as stupid as throwing him out when he turns 23).