Saturday sees the first round of the 2005 championship, the FIM Dominet Bank European Grand Prix, which takes place at the 40,000 capacity Olympic Stadium, Wroclaw, Poland.
The final round of the series sees the Championship go to Italy for the first time, with a visit to Vicenza-Logino in September.
Under the new format, each of the 16 riders will compete against every other rider in at least one race. Each rider will also start from each gate position at least once.
After 20 heats, the top eight riders will progress to the semi-finals. The first and second-placed riders in each semi-final will progress to the final.
The winning rider will be awarded 25 Grand Prix points, second will receive 20, third 18 and fourth 16. All other riders will be awarded the number of race points that they accumulated up to and including heat 20.
The rider line-up covers a range of nations, including Australia, the US, Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Great Britain.
