The Monster Energy MXGP of Flanders was the perfect occasion to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the promotion of the FIM Motocross World Championship by Giuseppe Luongo, now Infront Moto Racing President.
What a better place to do the celebrations than one of the temples of motocross, Lommel. On Saturday evening, an aperitif was set up at the VIP Skybox Restaurant to welcome all the guests from the MXGP paddock collective with a magnificent view of the mythical Belgian sand track. The whole family of motocross and more was present to celebrate this incredible achievement and landmark year for Giuseppe Luongo who promoted and propelled the Motocross World Championship to what it is now, the most popular off-road motorsport in the world.
The atmosphere was celebratory and warm with everyone here to enjoy this special moment. The guests attending were as impressive as Luongo’s contribution to the sport with the likes of Stefan Everts, Antonio Cairoli, Jeffrey Herlings, Tim Gajser, Joel Smets, Harry Everts, Jorge Prado, Michele Rinaldi, Romain Febvre, Jacky Vimond, Corrado Maddii, and more.
Guests were ushered inside to watch a video recounting Luongo’s history along with messages of people including SAS Prince Albert II, Former FIM President Francesco Zerbi, Former FIM CMS Director Wofgang Srb, Former FIM CEO Tony Skillington, FIM President Jorge Viegas, Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, Infront President & CEO Philippe Blatter, and many of the leading lights of the sport from the last 50 years, including Dave Thorpe, Roger De Coster and Pit Beirer telling their amazing shared memories of the last 40 years and congratulating him for all the achievements reached.
“It was a wonderful evening full of emotions together with all the Champions, the manufacturers, teams, the sponsors, the media but above all with all the friends with who we have worked together for the last 40 years to bring Motocross to where it is now, the most popular off-road sport in the world. I was deeply touched by the warmth and love I received and this will give us more strength to continue into the future.”
This emotional moment did not stop there as FIM Europe President Michal Sikora gifted Giuseppe Luongo with a plate on behalf of the FIM Europe and FIM President Jorge Viegas who could not be present at the dinner but who sent a nice message to Giuseppe Luongo in the celebrating video. Adding to the symbolism, the legends Stefan Everts and Antonio Cairoli gifted Luongo with a replica of the MXGP trophy on stage.
This eventful introduction of the evening concluded with a family photo of Giuseppe Luongo and all the legends of the sports, from the past to today. 44 Motocross World Championship victories between them. The mutual respect between these legends of the sport and Giuseppe Luongo, who propelled motocross to this current and impressive level, was palpable and a beautiful image for motocross.
Following this intense and emotional introduction of the evening, the dinner could start in a pleased and joyful atmosphere. People also enjoyed the photo booth as they were thrilled to mark this event and wrote messages in a book dedicated to Giuseppe Luongo where everyone could add their own shared memories with him. Every guest then was gifted with a special bottle of red wine customised with a special label including each companies’ logos from these 40 years of Motocross World Championship Promotion.
The event perfectly immortalised these astonishing 40 years of devotion to motocross and its promotion by Giuseppe Luongo who started in 1983 by organising and promoting international events. The first international event was in Ponte a Egola in August 1983, the event was a huge success with more than 20000 spectators, after that Luongo created his own company GLO (Giuseppe Luongo Organization) and organized two of the most popular series of that era, the ‘Masters of Motocross’ and ‘SuperMotocross’. After taking charge of all Italian International Motocross events, Mr Luongo reached a turning point in his career when he promoted the successful 1986 Motocross of Nations, which took place in Maggiora, Italy. In the years that followed history has been made with the foundation of Action Group first and the signature of the agreement with the FIM first to manage the television rights of the FIM Motocross World Championship, then to manage the full promotion of the Supercross and Motocross World Championships. The actions taken during these 40 years saw the rise of the FIM Motocross World Championship to high standards level that no one could have imagined at the time.
The story carries on as 2002 marked the creation of Youthstream, now called Infront Moto Racing with David Luongo becoming Infront Moto Racing CEO to continue the work of his father and keep growing the beautiful sport of Motocross to new heights.
