On March 5th, the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) announced its condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and in that announcement, it suspended the Motorcycle Federation of Russia (MFR) and the Belarusian Federation of Motorcycle Sport (BFMS) from FIM-sanctioned events.
This action also banned Russian and Belarusian from FIM-sanctioned events, and recommended that affiliated members of the FIM and FIM Continental Unions take similar action.
The FIM North America is going to heed that request, which means that Russian and Belarusian riders are banned from events that are operated by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and Canadian Motorcycle Association (CMA).
The act by the FIM North America is mostly symbolic, as the organization explains below, the FIM’s action of suspending the MFR and BFMS was sufficient to halt Russian and Belarusian racers from competing:
“Riders are typically required to secure start permissions from their home federations to race in a foreign country or be released from their home federations to the federation of the country hosting the event. Since the rights and privileges of the Russian and Belarusian federations have been suspended by the FIM, neither can grant a start permission nor provide a release. As a practical matter, riders from those federations are already prohibited from riding in other countries by the original FIM action.”
Despite the formality, the recognition of the FIM North America only adds to the support that the motorcycle industry is showing to the people of the Ukraine and their struggle against the Russian invasion of their sovereignty.
Source: FIM North America
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