The Australian Supercross Championship will continue in 2022 despite organisers ceasing the annual AUS-X Open after securing the rights to operate the FIM Supercross World Championship.

Following two years of series cancellations locally as a result of the pandemic, AME Management has committed to continuing its national series in addition to the separate SX Global entity that will host the world championship.

This year’s AUS Supercross series is being led by AME’s Ben Williams, as directors Adam Bailey and Ryan Sanderson turn their attention to launching a ‘pilot’ world championship that is due to drop the gates from September. It’s expected that the Australian championship will take place following the international series, potentially extending into January in a revamped schedule.

“The Australian championship is definitely going to continue and I would like to believe that would benefit off the back of this global investment in supercross, we are very positive in that,” SX Global managing director, motorsport, Bailey explained to MotoOnline.

“It will be handled at AME still with Ben Williams, who is the general manager of the commercial and events. Ben has been around the sport for as long as I have and knows it incredibly well – he will take the ball and run with it.

“Essentially, what we want is to continue on as the second-largest domestic supercross championship in the world. That’s where we believe the Australian championship sits and that’s where it should be, to help us funnel talent into the world championship.”

That move to bring the world championship to Australia will see the government-backed AUS-X Open come to a close. Instead, the Gold Coast-based SX Global is in negotiations to host a world championship round in its home country. While a location is still to be determined, it’s not guaranteed that Victoria’s Marvel Stadium – venue of the AUS-X Open in 2019 – will win the rights.

AUS-X Open first debuted in 2015 and was held in Sydney with significant success between that inaugural event and 2018, before transferring to an enhanced single-night platform in Melbourne from 2019 under a multi-year arrangement with the Victorian state government. It had doubled as a round of AUS Supercross since its inception, as well as a round of the FIM Oceania series in more recent years.

“We will continue to work with Motorcycling Australia (MA) and the Australian championship to collaborate – ideally, a round of the Australian Supercross Championship is also held within a round of the World Supercross Championship in Australia,” added Bailey.

“Sadly, there will be no AUS-X Open. The AUS-X Open event will roll into the world championship, but essentially we won’t try and hold an AUS-X Open and a supercross championship,” Bailey added. “We want one marquee event for supercross in Australia and it would become one of these FIM World Supercross Championship rounds.

“The intention is to use that as a platform to help boost the Australian Supercross Championship and let that grow in its own right from a popularity standpoint, audience standpoint and all of those things.”