At the 2025 EICMA show, the Champions Charity Race returned for its third edition — a one-of-a-kind flat track race that brings together past champions, many still in impressive shape and more than willing to twist the throttle, from both motocross and road racing backgrounds. The course was a sort of TT layout, more reminiscent of motocross than traditional dirt track, though without jumps. The bikes, however, were proper flat trackers.
The starting grid featured some seriously big names from both worlds: Troy Bayliss on the brand-new OMT 450 C, Marco Melandri, Alex Gramigni, Stefan Everts, Chicco Chiodi, Christophe Pourcel, Thomas Chareyre, David Philippaerts, Carlos Checa, Jeremy McWilliams, along with flat track specialists Francesco Cecchini and Marco Belli, who competed among the off-road riders.
The race took place on both Saturday and Sunday, structured as a series of one-on-one pursuit battles — meaning no overtakes, no contact, but still plenty of action. Off-road riders faced each other on one side, road racers on the other, before a final showdown between the best of each group.
At the end of both days, the top motocross rider was Christophe Pourcel, 2006 MX2 Motocross World Champion and two-time AMA Supercross Lites winner. Likewise, Thomas Chareyre, eight-time Supermoto World Champion, emerged as the fastest among the “asphalt” racers on both Saturday and Sunday.
In Saturday’s Superfinal, run over two three-lap heats, Chareyre came out on top aboard his TM. On Sunday, Pourcel struck back, taking the first official win for the Ducati Desmo450 MX Flat Track.
Beyond the results, it’s the spirit of the event that truly matters. As its name suggests, the Champions Charity Race donates the proceeds from sponsors to charitable causes. The winner of each day received a €5,000 check — the first went to the Luca Salvadori Foundation, which supports injured riders and their families, and the second to ABIO – Associazione per il Bambino in Ospedale.
