Kickstart | 2020 Pro Motocross Postponement Explained

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2020 LUCAS OIL PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP | COMPLETE COVERAGE

When I penned last week’s Kickstart write up, there was an optimistic outlook that the 2020 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship was going to start as planned. Yes, there were undeniable issues that surprisingly hadn’t been as openly discussed as one might expect (teams saying that’ll sit out a season unless dates and rounds are confirmed is a big, big deal), but everyone knew that work was being done in an effort to drop the gate on July 18. I pushed publish on the article Tuesday afternoon, thinking a statement from the Race Leadership Team that further addressed the uncertainty would come the next day.

A few hours later I got a phone call from a friend that explained the consensus of the weekly meeting between the series and teams was to push the opening round to mid-August and that a six-race, three-venue schedule was a well-received alternative. To their understanding, it was expected to be announced by the end of the week and our return to racing would be delayed a month or so, but that the general attitude was positive from both parties.

So Wednesday’s announcement that the start of the series is Indefinitely/Temporarily Postponed (depending on the press release you got) was a big surprise. Over the course of 24 hours, I went from thinking about traveling to roughly nine Nationals around the country starting at Ironman in July all the way to Thunder Valley in October, to having July “off,” to not knowing if a race was going to happen at all. Maybe getting used to being back home after living in the “bubble” of Utah’s Supercross program for a month meant I had missed the rise in positive tests and increased restrictions around the country, including Florida.

A quick phone call to Brandon Short, the Media Relations Manager for MX Sports, brought some clarity to the situation and he explained that the decision to cancel the first two announced rounds was to clear a path for an unconfirmed August start date. The two of us agreed that a conversation with Tim Cotter, Events Organizer for MX Sports, would be the best way to get all of the questions and concerns on record at once and within a half-hour, I was on the phone with Tim for a conversation that you can hear in a FLY Racing Swapmoto Podcast.

What’s the determining factor in the postponement of Pro Motocross? The series and teams didn’t want to start anything if there was a chance that they’d get told to stop sometime soon. The pause and uncertainty that teams endured when the Supercross season went on pause was a tense and uncertain time and no one wanted to risk doing it again.

Tim is one of the people I see every weekend during the summer. His role in the Race Leadership Team that MX Sports put together early in the pandemic has been instrumental in running the Super Regionals for the Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship and the ongoing GNCC off-road series, while their “Safe To Race” program was openly shared with race tracks of all sorts. After a few minutes of talking, Cotter expressed that MX Sports knew it was impractical to ask teams to prepare to line up for two races in July without having any more dates on the calendar, and that the series was closing watching how the states the Nationals are held in handled the recent surge.

“We all came to work on Monday with a plan and we were actually loading trucks and getting ready to head to Indiana to kick off the season. And in light of what’s going on with the spikes and the increased cases, recorded of cases around the country, we felt that we ought to take a little closer look at things,” said Cotter of a busy day at Racer Productions. “Early Tuesday morning, our colleague Roy Janson sent me a text early in the morning that said, ‘We ought to get on the phone and talk.’ And so, I pulled Davey in, and Roy and I early Tuesday morning, and looking at what’s going on with Texas going backward in phase, although we don’t race in Texas, that is a telltale sign of what’s happening in the world. Arizona, of course, California, particularly areas of California that didn’t have huge numbers before are seeing increased numbers. And then, Florida’s all over the news. And so, New York adding states to their do not travel list. Just all those things combined made us really take a step backward and say, ‘Okay. What we don’t want to happen is for us to get started, and then have to stop.’

“And so, we met with teams, we took advice from some of our key partners, our OEMs, NBC who is a key partner of ours, and we made the decision late last evening (Tuesday night) that we need to push the pause button on Pro Motocross for this year,” Cotter declared. It’s as simple as that: the series and teams didn’t want to start anything if there was a chance that they’d get told to stop sometime soon. The uncertainty that teams endured when the Supercross season went on pause was troubling and no one wanted to risk doing it again. It’s also come out that multiple teams have had positive test results since the return from Utah, which forced them to halt their operations in order to protect their staff. A two-week lapse of inactivity, when the break between SX and MX was only three weeks, was not ideal for anyone involved.

“Every day we try to make decisions that are best for our sport. Not necessarily best for us, but we think that if it’s mess for our sport, it will be best for us in the long run. And that’s the philosophy that this group has, and I’m fortunate to work for a group of people that have that kind of passion. And I know that there’s a lot of criticisms, and I get that. And there will be more criticisms, but I can tell you that when we all sit down, and have debate, and try to provide leadership, it absolutely is done with what is best for our sport. And then again, what’s best for our sport ultimately is best for us.” – Tim Cotter, Event Organizer for MX Sports

“In some areas we do have the ability to go racing. We were a bit timid to announce a full schedule because we knew there would be changes. But our goal was to be able to announce a schedule 30 days out. That if we gave everyone at least 30 days notice, we felt we could make it work. The manufacturers and our teams agreed that they could deal with 30 days. Our organizers felt that with 30 days notice that they could sell enough tickets and get their ball rolling,” he shared. “And we do have some tentative dates where we are hopeful that tracks can meet those dates. But I’m glad we didn’t [announce]. I’m glad we didn’t put out there that Colorado could run on a certain date, or that Washougal could run on a certain date because in some cases, these states have rolled back their phase plan, or stifled their phase plan due to the sudden spike in cases.”

“Every day we try to make decisions that are best for our sport. Not necessarily best for us, but we think that if it’s best for our sport, it will be best for us in the long run. And that’s the philosophy that this group has, and I’m fortunate to work for a group of people that have that kind of passion,” he continued. “And I know that there’s a lot of criticisms, and I get that. And there will be more criticisms, but I can tell you that when we all sit down, and have a debate, and try to provide leadership, it absolutely is done with what is best for our sport. And then again, what’s best for our sport ultimately is best for us.”

Cotter went on to explain that there Indiana and Florida had no laws or restrictions in place at that time to prevent the races from happening, but that it was the group’s decision to cancel the July 18-25 rounds. “The Indiana back to work program is clear. We could have that race there today if we wish. Florida is still okay and as early as yesterday afternoon, the track owner at Florida, along with his marketing team, met with the mayor of Jacksonville. And just to make sure that we’re getting down to the wire, ‘Are we still good?’ And the mayor of Jacksonville indicated, ‘Yes, you are good.’ And as many of you know, you watched the news, that the mayor of Jacksonville recently implemented you had to wear a mask when indoors. A lot of people took that as that everyone would have to wear a mask at the National. That’s not necessarily the case. But in light of all that, we felt just to take a step backward and say, ‘Let’s not get started and then have to stop.’ And we can still get a significant number of rounds in if we start in mid-August.”

Don’t expect to see anything like this at the Nationals this year. Interaction between riders-teams and the public will be restricted through measures like a closed pit area and no podium celebrations. “It’s going to be a challenge for us to get people to comply, but it is our intent for everyone in the paddock to wear a mask,” noted Cotter. “We are working on how our podium celebration and how our press conference activities will work. We just bought ourselves some time to refine those plans.”

In an early Spring press release, MX Sports stated that they intend to complete the 2020 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship by the first part of October, no matter how it might have to happen. Unlike Supercross, which was midway through its 17-race schedule, MX Sports has the ability to determine the number of events they ultimately hold. They already made the change from 12 rounds to 11 when Hangtown dropped out earlier in the year, and Cotter explained they intend to hold a minimum number of races. “I think that the minimum number would be six. That’s I think the way our committee feels is that if we can’t get six in, I think that when we announce that we’re going to move forward,” Cotter said. “We may not announce that we have six races, but I can tell you that I don’t believe that we would start it if we didn’t honestly believe that we could get six in. We might be able to get nine. Who knows. But we wouldn’t do it unless we felt confident we could get six.”

As we explained last week, having fans attend the races is necessary to the success of an event. The revenue generated by tickets allows the track owners-promoters to cover the costs of an event, including on-site staff, medical care, and the purse payout. That fans were to be allowed at the Indiana and Florida races was a huge detail for MX Sports and tickets had been on sale for weeks, but we had figured there would be limits on attendance to support proper distancing. Cotter confirmed this during our conversation, but surprisingly only the Indiana race had a limit, which was 50-percent capacity. “I can tell you that we feel that having fans at the event is paramount. And running without fans is the last thing that we would want to do. I don’t believe we would run without fans, but nothing is off the table,” he said.

MX Sports came up with a formula that helped them hone in on a number, which takes the total size of the property into account. It’s a lengthy explanation, but this type of behind the scenes planning is rarely discussed, so read on. “We look at 50-percent capacity. That’s a pretty interesting number. What is 50%? Number one, what is capacity? And just the boilerplate document, when you read the back to work phase-in plans that the various states have, it talks about 50-percent capacity. Well, what is 50-percent capacity at Ironman? We don’t have stadium seats where we can tell you that it seats 60,000, 5,000, 3,800. What’s the number? So, I can tell you what I’ve done to try to figure out where I think the number would be, and that’s where I’ll go in and measure all of the areas in which spectators can stand, and watch, and see the racetrack from. And I measure those areas and come up with square footage. And then, I divide it by 36, which is six feet by six feet. And then, that gives me a number, and I believe that that is my number,” Cotter said. “I can tell you what I’ve done to try to figure out where I think the number would be, and that’s where I’ll go in and measure all of the areas in which spectators can stand, and watch, and see the racetrack from. And I measure those areas and come up with square footage. And then, I divide it by 36, which is six feet by six feet. And then, that gives me a number, and I believe that that is my number. If you looked at Ironman and said, ‘Okay. I’m only going to sell this many tickets,’ and that number is arrived at if you wanted to stand six feet away from somebody, you absolutely can.”

How many rounds of Pro Motocross should we expect? It’s still uncertain, but MX Sports and the teams feel that six is the minimum. “We may not announce that we have six races, but I can tell you that I don’t believe that we would start it if we didn’t honestly believe that we could get six in,” said Cotter. “We might be able to get nine. Who knows. But we wouldn’t do it unless we felt confident we could get six.”

There will be a list of other restrictions and protocols in place when the races do run, including zero fan access into the pit area, no podium celebrations, and changes to the post-race interview process. Cotter said seeing what happened at the seven Supercross races helped MX Sports come up with solutions for their series, but that they were still putting the finishing touches on certain procedures. “If you think back 10 weeks ago when Supercross was getting ready to load in, and all of us sat around the coffee table, or the lunchroom table, or on the Zoom call, and had our opinion as to how that would go, it actually went pretty well I think. From an outsider from West Virginia looking in, I think Supercross did a really good job,” Cotter stated. “I didn’t think that the teams would embrace it the way they did, but they did. And I think at the end of the day, the dialogue and the narrative I heard from the teams was that it was done rather well and they liked it. And so, we were actually looking at somewhat more of a relaxed approach to our paddock, and the teams came back and said, ‘No, we actually like a more restrictive approach.’ And so our mitigation plan is more restrictive than we initially set out with. But it is going to be different. It is going to be challenging. There are more people in a motocross pit area than a Supercross pit area. We have more privateers, which are groups that don’t have a budget like the pro teams have. They may not be used to having the restrictions. It’s going to be a challenge for us to get people to comply, but it is our intent for everyone in the paddock to wear a mask. You will not be able to go from truck to truck. We are working on how our podium celebration and how our press conference activities will work. We just bought ourselves some time to refine those plans.”

“When we lock down a pro pit, that means when the rider and the family go into the pit, that pit is locked down. Well, that pit lockdown goes both ways. They won’t be able to come out, and the general public won’t be able to come in,” he clarified. “How are we going to accommodate that family that came in with their son that’s riding their first National, and they want to go watch their kid. They may not like the area that they have to watch inside the pit, but how do we allow you to go from the private pit to the public area, and back to the private pit again? I think those are questions that we have on how all that flow is going to happen. You didn’t have that at Supercross because you didn’t have any public at Supercross. I can keep the public out. My concern as an organizer is how do I keep the private out of the public? Not so much the public out of the private.”

Which leads us to two final details: when should we expect to hear races be confirmed and how far into the fall would MX Sports be willing to run a series? “We feel that we need to give everyone a 30-day notice. So if it were me, I would be looking for some sort of announcement around July 15th. That week of July 15th would give us a 30-day notice. Our intent, full-on intent is to go racing on August 15th right now. That’s where we hope to be, which is the week after Loretta Lynn’s. That’s our intent,” Cotter hinted. “We can certainly go into the first part of October. Going to later than that creates some issues. We have laid the groundwork to go a little deeper in October. I’m not so sure we’re able to do that. But I think that if we’re able to get back running, if we’re able to get a series in, you will see us at least in the first week of October, and maybe the second. So yeah, yeah, you’ll see us into the fall.”

When will we know about the future of the 2020 MX season? Cotter hinted it could as soon as mid-July. “I would be looking for some sort of announcement around July 15th. That week of July 15th would give us a 30-day notice. Our intent, full-on intent is to go racing on August 15th right now. That’s where we hope to be, which is the week after Loretta Lynn’s. That’s our intent.”