Motocross and Supercross are combining for a world championship with a $10 million purse.
Feld Motor Sports and MX Sports Pro Racing announced on Tuesday the creation of the SuperMotocross World Championship for the 2023 professional racing season.
Motocross and supercross will continue to crown individual champions at the end of their respective series, but the top 22 riders in the 450cc and 250cc classes will qualify for the SuperMotocross World Championship. Points from the two series will be combined to make up the SuperMotocross playoff rounds and world championship round on Oct. 14, 2023, at the L.A. Coliseum.
The $10 million purse will be the richest in the sport’s history.
• Oscar Piastri said he won’t drive for Alpine next season, mere hours after the Formula One team promoted the Australian reserve driver to replace Fernando Alonso.
Alonso surprised the team Monday when he informed Alpine he’ll move to Aston Martin next year. Alpine needed just one day to announce it would promote its 21-year-old budding talent, Piastri, to race alongside Esteban Ocon in 2023.
But Piastri said that’s not happening.
“I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year,” he wrote on Twitter.
Alpine’s news release had not included any comments from Piastri. There has been speculation that the current F2 champion was working on a better deal with another team.
In Alpine’s announcement, team principal Otmar Szafnauer said Piastri is “a bright and rare talent” who is “more than capable of taking the step up to Formula 1.”
Aston Martin on Monday signed Alonso, 41, a two-time world champion, to replace Sebastian Vettel, who announced his retirement last week. Alonso’s contract with Alpine was ending this season.
U.S. women to face Euro champ England
The U.S. women’s national team is set to face England at Wembley Stadium, the first of two European matches as the United States prepares to defend its title at the 2023 World Cup.
But there’s a catch: The Oct. 7 match is contingent on England securing its spot in the World Cup in qualifying games in September.
England is coming off a 2-1 overtime victory Sunday over Germany in the women’s European Championships final. The match at Wembley drew a tournament-record 87,192 fans.
“To get a chance to play the European champions in London at Wembley is an opportunity that doesn’t come around very often, so we’re all thankful that the match could be arranged, and we’ll be hoping that England finish their qualifying campaign in September,” U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski said in a statement. “This is exactly the kind of match we need at exactly the right time in our World Cup preparations so we can test ourselves against a very talented England team.”
• Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay soccer executives and political leaders launched their joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
Uruguay President Luis Lacalle Pou hosted the leaders in Montevideo, seeking to bring another World Cup final to the same Centenário Stadium where it was played in the first edition of the tournament in 1930. Then, Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2.
Alejandro Domínguez, the president of South American soccer body CONMEBOL, said in a news conference that the candidacy “is the dream of the continent.”
“One hundred years (since the first World Cup) will be achieved only once. And it has to come back home,” Domínguez said. “We believe that is more than enough of a reason for FIFA to accept that this becomes the only bid.”
Spain and Portugal also have a joint bid for the 2030 World Cup.
FIFA executives expect the 2030 pick will be made within two years. Qatar will host this year’s tournament, and the 2026 edition will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Bulls, Dragic make deal
The Chicago Bulls and guard Goran Dragic finalized a one-year, $2.9 million contract. Dragic, 36, has averaged 13.7 points and shot 36.2% on 3-pointers over 14 seasons with Phoenix, Houston, Miami, Toronto and Brooklyn.
Former Georgia star back Tate dead at 56
Lars Tate, part of a long line of Georgia running back greats who went on to play three seasons in the NFL with Tampa Bay and Chicago, has died, the school announced. He was 56.
Tate died late Monday in St. Petersburg, Fla., about a month after being diagnosed with throat cancer, his son, Donavan Tate, told the Athens Benner-Herald.
Tate led the Bulldogs in rushing in 1986 and ’87, finishing his college career with 3,107 yards — the sixth-most in school history. Herschel Walker and Nick Chubb were the only Georgia backs with more carries than Tate’s 615 from 1984-87.
He was a second-round pick of the Buccaneers in 1988 and led the team in rushing his first two seasons, totaling 1,055 yards and 15 touchdowns with 19 starts.
But Tate was cut by the Bucs ahead of the 1990 season, finishing out his career by playing sparingly in three games for the Bears.