Bekir Yunus Uçar, the president of the Turkish Motorcycle Federation (TMF), kicked off the season with the first leg of the Eastern European Championship, the European Youth Championship and the Turkish KAYO Motocross Championship.
He noted that more than 100 of the 158 athletes who started were young people and children.
Uçar followed the Turkish KAYO, European Youth, and Eastern European motocross championships at the Afyonkarahisar Motorsports Center as part of the May 19 Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth, and Sports Day celebrations.
He expressed that the Turkish Motorcycle Federation opened the motocross season in Afyonkarahisar.
Uçar remarked that Afyonkarahisar has become a world-renowned brand in motocross due to its infrastructure, social amenities, track features, and beauty, being one of the rare tracks and having received a first-place award in the world.
This year, they started the season with the first leg of the Eastern European Championship, the European Youth Championship, and the Turkish KAYO Motocross Championship.
Uçar stated that they had achieved a magnificent view in Afyonkarahisar, saying, "We consider this as a milestone because we started with 158 athletes in this organization. More than 100 of them are children and young people. Especially, the fact that the European Youth Championship is being held has significantly affected and triggered our children and young people. There are also athletes who hit the track and start for the first time here. The fact that this organization is being held on the occasion of May 19th Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day carries a different meaning."
Uçar reminded that there will be races in Gönen, Çatalca, and Hayrabolu in the future, saying, "The audience also has a great influence here. The culture of watching motor sports in Afyonkarahisar has also become high. The World Motocross Championship we have been organizing here for six years has contributed to the formation of this culture. Hopefully, we will move to another track with a more beautiful organization from here. We will try to increase our number of athletes in motocross."
Uçar stated that they see motocross as the starting point for all motor sports, saying, "Especially motocross is a branch where we produce European, Balkan, and Eastern European champions. The athletes who are raised here, like Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, Deniz, Can, and Bahattin Sofuoğlu, represent us on world tracks, asphalt tracks. An athlete who is dominant on the motorcycle in motocross and has gained experience here becomes successful in all motor sports."