Antonio Cairoli and David Philippaerts will now be at Colorado to race for Italy in the Motocross of Nations.

An earlier stand-off between the team bosses of Cairoli and Philippaerts – KTM and Yamaha respectively – and the Italian federation has been resolved and two of the best MX1 motocross riders on the planet will now take their rightful place at the “Olympic Games of Motocross” on September 25-26..

A meeting in between Youthstream President Giuseppe Luongo, FIM/CMS President Dr. Wolfgang Srb, FIM Sports Director Ignacio Verneda, FMI President Paolo Sesti, FMI Marketing Director Alfredo Mastropasqua, FMI Secretary General Alberto Rinaldelli, KTM Motorsport Consultant Winfried Kerschhaggl, KTM Off Road Motorsports Director Pit Beirer, Yamaha Europe Representative Michele Rinaldi ended with the FMI’s decision of lining up Cairoli and Philippaerts at the Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations with Alessandro Lupino completing the Italian team.

The Italian Motorcycling Federation (FMI) had chosen the team’s line up and the “Maglia Azzurra” jersey layout following the principles of the FIM Regulations and of the CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) regulations, and considering the fact that it is the Federation choosing the riders participating in the event.

The Motocross Grand Prix commission meeting laid the base for a future regulation ruling the Motocross of Nations jersey layout which includes the following points:

– the upper half of the jersey will feature the Federations’ logos

– the lower half of the jersey will feature the Teams’ and Riders’ logos

– the sleeves will feature the Teams’ and Riders’ logos

– the back will feature the Riders’ name and number

– the jersey colour will be decided by the Federation

Taking into account also this future rule as well as KTM’s and Yamaha Europe’s cooperation into the Youth Program of the FMI, the latter could finally confirm that Cairoli and Philippaerts will race the Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations at Denver, USA, on the September 26 weekend with MX2’s Lupino completing the team.

The decision was very much welcomed by all parties involved in the meeting as the FMI would like to extend their gratitude to the riders who had been previously called up, Manuel Monni and Davide Guarneri, who will be part of the Maglia Azzurra group heading to Denver in two weeks’ time.

© Photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com