Kurt Nicoll is a name most people involved in the sport of motocross would know. A multiple time World 500cc runner-up, MXdN hero for Team Great Britain, and at points of his life, team manager for the KTM factory teams in both Europe and America and also a major part of the Travis Pastana/Nitro Circus success story.

Nicoll is still a racer, but doing veterans events, and doing well, but his managerial mindset is also something that has seen him recently sigh up by the FIM World Supercross Championship (FIM WSX) series as Senior Consultant of Racing Development.

As mentioned, Nicoll, is a master of his craft, was an icon of the Motocross Grand Prix World Championships in the late 1980s and early 1990s and claimed seven British Motocross Championship titles during his competitive career.

After retiring from professional racing, Kurt transitioned from the role of rider to manager, opening KTM England as Racing Director before moving to Mattighofen, Austria, as Factory KTM’s Worldwide Race Director. We caught up with Nicoll, to ask him about the progress of the World supercross series and what he expects at this stage of their rebuilding program.

MXLarge: Tell me, how did the World Supercross deal come about?

Nicoll: Basically, some of the guys that are involved in World supercross, are also involved in Nitro Circus (where Nicoll had also worked in the past), some very smart people. With my background in motocross, I think the part of being a consultant, suits my experience and my skill set. Obviously, I have had a lifetime involved in motocross and supercross, as a racer and as the motocross team-manager at KTM and then the head of the race department at KTM and then also with Nitro Circus.

MXLarge: The World Supercross hasn’t really started as everyone had hoped, but clearly the World has room for major supercross events to be seen around the World. There are more than enough supercross riders, who are not racing enough, and could do with such a series, be it AMA racers, or those racing in the Indian League, or the Australian supercross championships. As I said, the road has been a bumpy one, but how do you think you can move forward to bring it to its place on the calendar?

Nicoll: I think what I am most excited about, from this year and beyond and you are absolutely right, it had a very bumpy ride. Everyone was very excited when it was announced, because I firmly believe, as it sounds like you do, that there is a place for supercross on the World scene, because it isn’t just an American sport, at all. So, I think the way it was handled, up until now, was not the way it should have been handled and it didn’t get the greatest start, and my place is to find the place for supercross, in the existing hierarchy of all the other motocross series and I think that World supercross, can exist with MXGP, AMA supercross and AMA motocross. My job is to try and steer them to that point. It isn’t a short-term thing, but a long-term thing and as I said, I believe there is a place for it. To be honest, the rest of the World has been starved for supercross.

MXLarge: When you see a rider like Kyle Webster, who finished top ten in AMA motocross lately, or Matt Moss, or a lot of the French and other Australian riders, the guys involved in the Indian League, so many good supercross riders, maybe not top AMA level guys, but very good supercross riders, who are not getting enough races, or making enough money from the sport. Any time these guys get more possibilities to race and earn a living, it is a good thing, right?

Nicoll: I think what we need to realize, motocross and supercross has narrowed as a skill set. Back in my day, when I was racing Grand Prix, we were a million miles away from being able to do supercross. Nowadays, at a regular MXGP track, all those MXGP riders, the best ones in the World, every one of them, could race supercross. The skill levels are very, very close now. Up until maybe the early 2000s, that wasn’t the case. The talent in MXGP and MX2 is so high now and the technical aspects of the Grand Prix riders shows they are capable of racing supercross. There is a place for a supercross series, that allows MXGP riders to race supercross.

MXLarge: With some of the teams from previous years of the World supercross maybe not being involved in 2024, how close are you to getting a full field of riders on the gate of the World supercross championship for 2024? Obviously, Australia won’t be a problem, maybe Canada will also be okay, but what about Abu Dhabi?

Nicoll: It is a work in progress, but World supercross, via the team structure, the majority of teams are still under contact and will return for 2024. I mean, its still a work in progress, but there are some big announcements to come, with the riders who will be racing, and I think we will have a rebuild, but it is building nicely into the motocross hierarchy.