JAKKS Pacific Inc. today announced that it has signed licensing agreements with seven of the country's leading freestyle motocross (``FMX'') performers under which JAKKS will develop and market a full line of motocross bikes and action figures, including sets that emulate the tricks and stunts that are central to FMX exhibitions.

The featured riders will include Travis Pastrana, who, although still in his teens, has won more than a dozen Amateur National Championships, as well as veterans Mike Cinqmars, Brian Deegan, Seth Enslow, Carey Hart, Mike Jones, and Mike Metzger. Travis Pastrana, in addition to being a young talented rider, is also an educational inspiration as an early high school graduate already enrolled in college courses at the age of 16! Full product rollout, under JAKKS' Road Champs brand, is expected in the spring of 2000.

With its combination of extraordinary airborne acrobatics and in-flight stunts before a live audience, freestyle motocross is rapidly becoming one of the country's most popular extreme sports. FMX has evolved from the skills developed among riders in conventional motocross (off-road motorcycle racing), which originated in the 1960s as an outdoor event staged on dirt bikes in the hills of California and the Appalachian Mountains. Nowadays televised races are often held in stadiums (where the sport is referred to as ``supercross''), and increasingly since the mid 1980s in smaller closed arenas (``arenacross''), where the proximity of spectators to riders further adds to the excitement of freestyle competition.

``As superstars of the FMX circuit, these riders are crowd-pleasing entertainers as well as exceptional athletes,'' said Stephen Berman, President and COO of JAKKS Pacific Inc., ``and even people who might not otherwise have considered watching a motorcycle event will be amazed at what they see. FMX possesses enormous merchandising potential, and we are delighted to have these riders as our marketing partners.''

JAKKS Pacific is a multi-brand toy company that designs, develops, produces and markets toys and related products, including: action figures and accessories featuring licensed characters, principally from the World Wrestling Federation; Flying Colors molded plastic activity sets, clay compound playsets and lunch boxes; Road Champs die-cast collectible and toy vehicles and Remco toy vehicles and role-play toys and accessories; Child Guidance infant and preschool electronic toys, toy foam puzzle mats and blocks and activity sets and outdoor products; and fashion and mini dolls and related accessories.

[Updated 3/07/2000]