Freshly appointed as the World Capital of Motorcycling 2015, the Spanish city of Jerez de la Frontera hosted an evening to be remembered as more than five hundred distinguished guests which included both of MXGP’s FIM Motocross World Champions Antonio Cairoli and Jordi Tixier, the FIM Women’s Motocross World Champion Kiara Fontanesi, the young and talented FIM Junior Motocross World Champions Brian Hsu, Kim Savaste and Jett Lawrence and the FIM Snowcross World Champion Adam Renheim enjoyed the fifth edition of the FIM Gala Ceremony. Over thirty 2014 FIM World Champions were joined by legends of the various disciplines, an array of key motorcycle industry stakeholders plus numerous media representatives to celebrate the achievements of many two-wheel heroes and the work done by others involved in the sport.

The new British pairing of Gavin Emmett and Lisa Leyland conducted the ceremony perfectly in front of a packed audience inside the historic Teatro Villamarta, as they welcomed a whole host of champions, legends and other prize-winners to the stage to collect their respective awards. The large crowd was entertained throughout as both presenters shared their specialist knowledge and passion for motorcycle sport whilst taking the opportunity to speak to some of the newly crowned FIM World Champions who ranged in age from eleven to forty-four-years-old.

Recognised and rewarded as FIM Legends themselves; Jorge Martinez, Sammy Miller, Sue Fish, Gerd Riss, Thierry Magnaldi and Kvetoslav Masita took charge of presenting the prizes to the current champions including Marc and Alex Marquez, Esteve Rabat, Sylvain Guintoli, Antonio Cairoli, Jordi Tixer, Christophe Nambotin, Pierre Alexandre Renet, Matthew Phillips, Greg Hancok, Daniil Ivanov plus many more of the world’s best riders. The female winners also made their mark on the evening with Kiara Fontanesi, Laia Sanz and Emma Bristow all receiving great applause as they stepped forward to receive their respective prizes.

In addition to acknowledging the achievements of the many FIM World Champions, the FIM also presented two additional and important prizes to recognise other work done within the sport and industry. The 2014 FIM Environment Award saw joint winners in the form of Circuit of The Americas and Yamaha Motor Racing, whilst the FIM Road Safety Award this year was won by The Dutch Motorcycle Federation (Koninklijke Nederlandse Motorrijders Vereniging - KMNV)

Recently re-elected FIM President Vito Ippolito said: “Once again it has been a truly amazing evening and one that I am sure will be remembered well by all those who attended. It was also the perfect way for the city of Jerez de la Frontera to mark their appointment as the World Capital of Motorcycling 2015. It is always a very special occasion when we gather together all our FIM World Champions, our FIM Legends and so many people from our sport and industry to celebrate collectively what has been achieved in the year. Again I want to express my sincere thanks to the riders, teams and everyone else who is involved in our motorcycling family for making this edition of the FIM Gala a real success and for keeping the true spirit of motorcycling alive.”

Copyright: Photo: David Reygondeau

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