The distinction of most popular sport in the Solar System fluctuates from year to year, but most often the Moto wins out in public consensus.

With so many records lost in Terra’s destruction, no one is entirely certain of the precise date of origin for the Moto. What did survive is knowledge that at one point on Old Earth, motocross was a prevalent extreme sport, even more when the hover engine became a practical tool. The holding company for the firm that developed the first marketable hover engine later turned into Ellis System Industries, Inc., thus Ellis claims credit for the invention. Wheeled sports were purported to have been widely overtaken by hover sports in the decades leading up to the end of Earth.

Enthusiasts for the hover motocross took inspiration from vids and games that preceded their generation, and built the modern sport on the foundations of these ideas. The Moto thus became something of a cultural touchstone, one of the few that survived the exodus from Terra intact.

Different territories have varying rules and times at which their Moto events are held. What is common among them is a theme of danger, as hoverbike racers hold contests of speed and grit in such places as the methane lakes of Titan, the geysers of Enceladus, the craters of Miranda, the volcanoes of Io, across tethered asteroids, the rims of space stations such as Phoenix… if there is a surface that can hold a suspension field, a Moto will probably be held there. Hoverbikes come in as many designs as there are classes of spaceships, but they typically only have one engine for hovering and one for propulsion, and have liquid hydrogen turbo boosters, usually reserved in packs of four to five per race.  They are equipped with grapplers to aid them in navigating the tight turns and banks of the treacherous courses, all of whom are purported to be designed by “sheer maniacs.”

As of the year 200, Jessie “The Destroyer” holds the record for most Moto wins in the Solar System combined. Her winning record in the Saturn territory is closely contested by Rufus Shofeld. The celebrity status of being a famed Moto racer often leads local territories to overlook minor offenses and/or bounties.