Monday Kickstart | April 27 2020

INSTAGRAM | @swapmotolivedotcom
INSTAGRAM | @swapmotolive

Have to say it feels a little odd to write about how motocross will be shaped by the COVID-19 crisis. The way society as a whole will come out from this is anyone’s guess because it really is touching every part of the world and the impact it’ll have will last for generations. My thoughts are with the people that will experience the worst of the virus firsthand, from the victims to the healthcare workers to all of their respective families, as well as the people that felt the financial-employment force of the pandemic. That’s always first and foremost. But you’re here to read about dirt bikes and that’s something that’ll be somewhat different when this is all said and done.

We should know by Wednesday what Feld Entertainment has decided for the remaining rounds of the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross Series. For the last week, the race organizer has worked on a plan that will see them take over State Farm Stadium in Arizona for a seven-race run to properly conclude the 250 West, 250 East, and 450 championship chases. It’s a concept that every professional sporting league has discussed in one way or another over the past five weeks, but Supercross aims to do so in a much tighter timeframe. Should everything go to plan, we’d see bikes back on the track sometime in the middle of May and races held every few days until the full 17-race order is complete.

The project has been met with a mixed reaction, due in part to the complexities of managing infrastructure and personnel during a time of mandatory social distancing, but mostly because of the decision to move the return of Supercross from the original plan of September-October to May-June.

For riders and teams that eyed the 2020 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship as the next event, this is a massive disruption to their plans. Every rider took time off from the daily grind of training and what practice they did was on a standard motocross track, not the technical and jump-laden Supercross courses. Some teams, especially independent ones, had already gone through their own internal efforts to stay busy during the downtime, including rebuilding components like suspension for MX or refurbishing bikes to sell to the public. Should the season resume in May everyone will have about three weeks to get practice motos in on the available Supercross tracks and load up the rigs before an extended stay in the Arizona desert.

A handful of riders brought up the prospect of racing with their social media posts with coy captions, but Cooper Webb was the first to share his personal opinion on the matter. “As of April 17th it sounded like a go but as of yesterday it is becoming questionable because some teams and riders feel there isn’t enough time to get ready. I’m blessed to be on @ktmusa where we are always #readytorace but this had me thinking a bit. Feld is prepared to bring back employees, work with the riders and teams to have very limited amount of people at the venue and in the stadium, have multiple health care workers to check every single person’s temperature and symptoms every time we come into the stadium, as well as to be the first sport back to action while practicing social distancing with some adjustments to the racing and schedule with unfortunately no fans allowed at the stadium,” stated the Red Bull KTM rider and defending champion in an Instagram post. “I know myself and almost every person in our industry has had some pay deduction or even extreme been laid off until we are back racing. I feel as professional supercross racers it’s our jobs to be ready to race and do our jobs whenever called upon. As of April 17th and possibly prior riders got told of the possibility of racing May 15 which made it fair to everyone to know that in 4 weeks we could be back racing. With bikes ready, SX settings we already have, the 26 weeks of SX we’ve already done this year (off-season preparation) with 3-4 days of riding each of those weeks ( appx 95-105 days of riding SX) I feel like we should do our SX/MM community a favor and try to be ready to race.” Currently fourth in the 450 standings, mathematically in the hunt for a second title, and known for a brash outlook, Webb’s message is crystal clear: ready or not, let’s go.

The mention of resistance to the idea from others in Webb’s comment didn’t “out” any specific rider or team, but it sparked discussions as to who it could be, with many thinking Ken Roczen. It didn’t take long for the assumptions to be proven at least partially correct, because the Team Honda HRC rider shared his outlook on the matter through a series of Instagram stories and comments in the days that followed. A screenshot that shows a sharp rise of COVID-19 cases in Arizona, a key stat for the possibility of the Arizona plan happening (a steady decrease over 14 days was reportedly necessary for the races to be approved), was followed by a message that read, “Watch this whole thing explode again just because people are impatient. There is nothing different right now than two weeks ago when everyone thought the world was ending. It’ll only end up dragging out if people start going about their normal life right now. I get the economy the work side of things, why people are wanting to go back to work, but there is still health and safety issues.” When fellow racer Alex Ray made a social media post discussing the likelihood of Supercross happening, Roczen commented, “Want to of course. That’s what we do. But I think it should not happen in May. Absolutely not. We all miss it. It would be premature,” then responded to another person’s comment that said that racing should resume with, “There are a lot of reason there should not be any racing right now.” Roczen’s stance is understandable, especially considering the health issues he’s faced in the last few years, and there’s no chance of him backing away from how he feels. Would he go as far as sitting out the races in protest? With his best chance of a 450 SX title on the line, it’s a personal decision he might have to face.

More riders seem to agree with Webb than they do Roczen, but from what we know about the effort that’s been made to bring back SX, one rider’s opinion won’t matter in the end. If Feld Entertainment gets the “Arizona Plan” approved, it’ll happen. There’s too much on the line for them to voluntarily delay the series longer, especially if there’s any chance it can happen now, and we’ve learned that major teams are willing. Everyone is in a routine, it would eliminate any chance that a crash in the summer could interfere with the championship contenders, and venues will likely be hard to come by later this year when the usual tenants of stadiums (NFL, MLB, MLS) get into their seasons. It would be a return to normalcy that is much-needed after months of emotional and economic turmoil, something that could help put motocross into mainstream consciousness. There are major challenges that would have to be overcome, which we outlined last week, but many see the risks worth the reward. 

Now we wait for Wednesday, which is when the final decision is slated to be made and announced. The desire by people to race is very strong, the obstacles in the way just as large. We’ll share an update as soon as we know more.

One last parting thought: anyone else the Roczen-Webb rivalry is going to be reignited and even gnarlier when they’re on the track again?