Kickstart | Decision Day For Pro Motocross

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INSTAGRAM | @swapmotolive

If what Tim Cotter told us a few weeks ago still applies, we should know the fate of the 2020 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship by the end of today, July 15. MX Sports has diligently worked since March to figure out a way to hold races amid the strange new world we’re all living in and published multiple schedules during the “peak” of the pandemic, but the ongoing issues that the virus has caused within the United States made all of that for naught. The decision to scrap their previously announced races, Indiana on July 18 and Florida on July 25, came as cases spiked around the country and put us all in a sort of purgatory as we wait to see if the Race Leadership Team, the OEMs, and other partners of the series can come to an agreement for some kind of racing this summer.

Why is today so important? During our interview with Cotter, the Events Manager for all of MX Sports said that it is their intention to give everyone from riders to teams to fans a 30-day heads-up of when they should expect to be back at that track, which meant that August 15 was eyed as the possible start date. Mid-August would mean that Pro Motocross would kick off right after the conclusion of the Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s and in our conversations with our friends in the paddock made it clear that the unique Tennessee track would be the site of the opening round of the series. Since all of the motocross industry would be in the state for the week-long AM MX event, it makes perfect sense for MX Sports and others to keep their infrastructure in place for a while longer.

Unfortunately, things aren’t looking too promising right now and rumors continue to circulate that the summer series could be delayed further or scraped all together. It’s not what any of us want to hear, but as cases climb and states revert back to their previous restrictions, one can’t avoid the evidence that this summer is not going to be anything like we had hoped.  

When Supercross went on hold earlier in the year, we outlined the challenges that Feld Entertainment faced in getting some sort of restart plan in place and how detrimental it was for teams to sit idle. Without racing, teams do not get to fulfill the contractual agreements they have with sponsors and cannot collect the money necessary to pay their employees, including riders and race staff. The financial freeze was so harsh earlier this year that multiple teams cut the pre-determined wages that they had with riders, something no one was happy about but that all seemingly understood was necessary considering the circumstances. To our knowledge, some of those reductions are still in place, but the seven-race Supercross series in Utah was enough for the race teams and Feld to fulfill the requirements of their contracts and many were paid in full by sponsors (we’ve heard that some teams are yet to receive the complete payments from sponsors, but that’s been an issue in MX since the first scramble in a field somewhere in Europe).

We cannot overstate how important the Supercross restart was for the professional side of the motocross industry. Without those races and the money that was earned, a handful of race teams would have likely closed down for good. Our own staff needed those races to happen too because much of our content on the website is devoted to racing and without it, advertisers were not getting what they paid for. But the month in Utah might have made a false sense of security, because being at work made us all feel like life was back to normal, despite the fact it most certainly was not. Race days at Rice Eccles Stadium were a welcome break from the bad news and all of us assumed that the summer would run without issue, that the time spent there would be enough for COVID to get under control and for MX Sports to piece together their schedule. It wasn’t until the last part of the month that we all realized that things weren’t going the way we had hoped and after the final checkered flag, the anxiety and uncertainty slowly came back.

A final decision for the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship needs to come sooner than later. Without it, we cannot figure out what the hell we are going to do this summer, and more importantly, what everyone involved in professional motocross racing will do to survive a very uncertain time.

There are a handful of major factors that will determine if we see the Nationals run this summer, including restrictions from states and willing participation by race teams. Indiana made it clear that they have no issue with an event taking place at Ironman, but that the crowd would be capped at 50-percent of normal capacity. Florida, meanwhile, is seeing their numbers surge while areas push to reopen. Disneyworld has a plan in place that brought guests back to the park for the first time in months, but it’s been met with mass criticism and clear violations of social distancing guidelines. Jacksonville, the big city near WW Ranch, requires masks to be worn when indoors at businesses and in public places. Would a race track be considered a public place? That’s something that remains to be determined. Tennessee has upped their restrictions once again, due to the rush of tourism that the state has seen this summer, and many places have been declared “hot spots” for outbreaks. These three states were very important to the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship due to their previously lax restrictions and without them, it would be difficult to fulfill the six-race series that teams say is the minimum number they will participate in.

A set number of races isn’t the only concern that teams have expressed. The factory squads know sending their employees to areas that are considered somewhat “unsafe” is a risky endeavor and some have already had positive cases within their staffs, which forced some to have a two-week pause of activity. What would a team do if someone in their crew tested positive in the middle of the season? The bigger operations would most likely have to quarantine for two weeks and miss the races, which would be a massive issue. 

There are a million “what ifs” that we could outline in this article, which we’ve done too many times already this year, and we know that many of you are over reading write-ups like this. To be honest, we are too. A final decision for the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship needs to come sooner than later. Without it, we cannot figure out what the hell we are going to do this summer, and more importantly, what everyone involved in professional motocross racing will do to survive a very uncertain time. Let’s just hope it’s good news…