Image: Foremost Media.

A series of safety advancements have been introduced in the 2025 Boost Mobile AUSX Supercross Championship, incorporating a variety of initiatives to further enhance the protection of both riders and race officials.

Safety lights, mandatory body-armour, catch nets, and A-frame tuff blocks are among the developments introduced by AUSX organiser AME Group this year in an effort to improve rider safety while minimising associated risks.

Trackside lighting signals – as seen most prominently in Monster Energy Supercross – have been added this season as an extra layer of safety, with flashing lights used to improve real-time communication between riders and officials

“One of the things that we continue to look at is the safety of the officials, and also the communication between the officials and the riders on track,” AUSX race director Kevin Williams told MotoOnline. “We’ve been working on the lighting at each round, where marshals have their flags, but they also have the remote for their lights.

“For the riders, when they’re turning off a berm and looking at the track, the lights are now placed into the edges of the circuit, so it’s going to grab your attention. Currently we have a flashing yellow, as well as a flashing white light for no jumping.

“Next year, they will have a blue light for the overtaking flag. At the moment we have eight of these, and we are looking to create more for next season.”

Additionally, the tuff blocks have undergone a major overhaul for 2025, moving away from the cardboard box and signage covers, while avoiding the larger, denser blocks that have caused issues elsewhere in the world. New catch nets have also already paid dividends, with riders having tested both safety measures across the opening three rounds.

“Credit to AME Group, they went and did some research in looking at the high-density foam [tuff blocks] that are used in the AMA and then converting that to the A-frames that we have now, so if the wheel hits it, it’ll move,” added Williams. “If you look at what we’ve had from the opening three rounds, they are a huge improvement.

“Then further to that, we’ve added catch nets on some of the berms, as supercross is inherently in tight venues, and you don’t have the run-off that you might have in motocross. We put those in, and on the weekend, there was a catch net on the berm as riders were approaching the start gate and we had someone go into that, caught him and the bike, and he returned to the track with no incident.”

Mandatory body-armour is expected to be enforced by Motorcycling Australia (MA) from 2026, but AUSX has moved to bring that regulation in sooner, as seen in supercross this season. And a permanent structure for race officials, inclusive of added training, will be increasingly beneficial for the sport.

“You look at world championship racing, where you have to wear body-armour for both motocross and supercross, and as we are seeing in supercross, they’re jumping bigger, they’re going faster, and the impact is higher,” Williams said.

“So Motorcycling Australia has put it in the rules for 2026 that all competitors are required to wear full body-armour, and that’s what we are already doing this year in AUSX. Also for next year, we’re working on a program for professional marshals with the view of finding a way of having 10-12 of the same marshals at every round to help with consistency.”