Davey Coombs - Racerhead

Posted on March 25, 2020

Below is some comments from Davey Coombs from his regular Racerhead column on www.racerxonline.com about what is going on at the moment. DC was kind enough to let us run them here in mxlarge. Tough times in the sport and Coombs, who is from a motocross family and runs the AMA Nationals always has a good opinion on situations and below is a great read about the current coronavirus drama. We will also be doing an interview with Davey Coombs this week on how the AMA Nationals might be looking and the future in USA.

Racerhead

Before we begin, here’s hoping that all of our readers, riders, and industry friends are doing okay in this very fluid and frightening pandemic. Whether you are young or old, single or married, rich or poor, happy or sad, this thing is part of our lives for the indefinite future. Take it seriously, take care of the loved ones around you, and listen to what the doctors and experts are telling us. And wash those hands!

Last week, Monster Energy AMA Supercross and MXGP went on hold. The AMA Grand National Cross Country Series’ next round was already canceled, followed by the Hangtown Classic, the opening round of the 2020 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. And the JS7 Spring Championships at Freestone Raceway in Texas were literally stopped in their tracks not long after practice started and everyone was sent home—the same fate of Red Bull’s A Day in the Dirt Down South the previous weekend. And the Area Qualifiers for Loretta Lynn’s that were set for the next few weeks have also been postponed indefinitely.

So how and when are we going to be able to get on with our everyday lives, not to mention our weekend passions for motorcycle racing? That remains to be seen. California and New York are literally locking down due to fears of advancing the spread of the virus. National borders are starting to close. For at least the next four to six weeks, by most accounts, we will all be dealing with the critical phase of this pandemic. Obviously, no big sporting events are going to be happen anytime soon.

Still, we need a plan for when we can get back out to restaurants, parks, movie theaters, and, of course, the racetracks. In our office, the leadership teams of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross, along with Loretta Lynn’s AMA Amateur National Championships, GNCC Racing, and ATV Motocross, have been meeting often, checking local, state and federal guidelines, and preparing a plan for when and where we can start racing again. We’ve also been talking extensively with our fellow promoters around the country, especially Feld Entertainment, as well as our broadcast partners at NBC Sports and MAVTV, the OEMs, AMA Pro Racing, and other series partners and sponsors about a plan moving forward.

With input from all, MX Sports Pro Racing is announcing today that the 2020 Lucas Pro Motocross Championship schedule has been reconfigured. The series will now start on June 13 at WW Ranch in Jacksonville, Florida—previously scheduled to run one week earlier. The series will end on September 5 at Fox Raceway in Pala, California, which was previously set for May 23. The other big change is for Thunder Valley in Lakewood, Colorado, which was originally scheduled for May 30 but will now run on July 11. All other dates—High Point (6/20), Southwick (6/27), RedBud (7/4), Spring Creek (7/18), Washougal (7/25), Unadilla (8/15), Budds Creek (8/22) and Ironman (8/29)—will stay on their original dates. As for the previously canceled Hangtown Classic, which takes place at Prairie City OHRV State Park, it is not likely they will be back this year. For this year only, the series will be an 11-round championship, not the normal 12.

So here’s what the 2020 schedule now looks like:

ama-schedule.jpg#asset:27833

The hope was that moving back one full month would possibly allow the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship to run in the month of May, but that still seems a long shot given the time they would need to get their series back up and running, accounting for stadium availability (as other sports like Major League Baseball get back up and running), as well as the current uncertainty as to when we may all get the greenlight anyway. So we decided to run as quick and concise a schedule as we could and leave the last third of the calendar year open. We expect to hear more about the 2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship very soon, and we will work with Feld in any way we can to help complete what certainly started out as a fantastic season.

Thank you to our series promoters and partners, our fans, and our participants for being patient while we worked to plan this all out. Of course, a lot can happen in these fluid times, and more changes could be necessary, but let’s hope not. With that in mind, let me turn this over to Tim Cotter, Director of Events for MX Sports.

Ray Archer image