MotoGP, WSBK Encourage #RidersAtHome; More Calendar Changes

[Basket Case]

UPDATE APRIL 6, 2020: MotoGP, Endurance World Championship, and MotoAmerica have all announced additional schedule changes for 2020. Let’s dive in.  

• MotoGP: The 2020 Shark Helmets Grand Prix de France, originally scheduled for the weekend of May 15 through 17, 2020, has been postponed. No new date has been announced yet, since this situation is extremely fluid right now. However, the fact that they’ve said it’s postponed rather than canceled outright indicates hope that it will be rescheduled at a later date.  
• Speedweek and Northern Talent Cup: Speedweek was originally scheduled to take place at Oschersleben from June 4 through 6, 2020. The first round of the Northern Talent Cup was also scheduled to take place as a supporting event. Both Oschersleben events have now been canceled, and the first round of the NTC is now scheduled to take place at Sachsenring from June 19 through 21, 2020.  
• #RidersAtHome campaign: The FIM governing body that oversees both MotoGP and WSBK announced its #RidersAtHome initiative on April 1. The campaign is meant to encourage all types of riders around the world, from professionals to everyday commuters, to share messages of support and behaving in a responsible manner to take care of each other. In the official release, the FIM said, “Even though riding is still permitted in some countries – the FIM is requesting that ALL riders keep their motorcycles parked in order to reduce the risk of accidents and injuries that could take up valuable healthcare resources during a period when they are already under great pressure.”  
• Endurance World Championship: The 8 Hours of Oschersleben was originally scheduled at the culmination of Speedweek, on June 6, 2020. Due to a ban on public gatherings, this race has been canceled and will not be rescheduled for 2020. The next EWC gathering will now be the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan on July 19, 2020. Additionally, the Bol D’Or in Le Castellet, France from September 19 through 20, 2020 will now be considered the fifth event in the 2020 EWC calendar. If this calendar remains unchanged, it will be bookended by Bol D’Ors.  
• MotoAmerica: The series already rescheduled its initial COTA opening round in accordance with the MotoGP COTA weekend; both events will now take place in November 2020. That meant Road Atlanta was to host the new MotoAmerica season opener from April 17 through 19, 2020. However, that event has now been rescheduled to July 31 through August 2 instead. Shortly after that announcement, MotoAmerica announced the cancellation of the Virginia International Raceway round originally scheduled for May 1 through 3, 2020. This race will not be rescheduled. As things currently stand, the revised MotoAmerica season is scheduled to kick off at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin from May 29 through 31, 2020. MotoAmerica is working toward having 10 events on its 2020 schedule, and plans to issue calendar updates in the future. 

UPDATE MARCH 25, 2020: The FIM and Dorna have announced another calendar change for the World Superbike series. 

• WSBK Racing: The Pirelli Dutch round of the 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is now postponed. It was originally scheduled for the weekend of April 17 through 19, 2020. It has now been moved to the weekend of August 21 through 23, 2020.  
• WSBK Streaming: Meanwhile, WorldSBK is also bringing archival racing entertainment to everyone who’s sitting at home trying to wait this thing out. On Monday, March 16, it released Essential WorldSBK Races Volume 1, a collection of five of the sport’s most iconic races ever, available for free streaming wherever and whenever you are right now.  
• Even more WSBK streaming: If that’s not enough, during each weekend of this break, WorldSBK will be releasing a full round of WorldSBK racing available to stream for free. This will include all practice sessions and races associated with that race weekend, available from Friday to Monday of that week. It’d be nicer still if you could watch them any time during the following week, but it’s still a pretty sweet deal. Did I mention that it’s free? I’m hardly going to complain about that.  

UPDATE MARCH 20, 2020: Two race organizations have issued letters of encouragement to fans in the wake of this ongoing pandemic. One additional major race rescheduling has occurred. 

• Le Mans 24 Heures Motos: Although previously postponed to September 5 and 6, the 24 Heures Motos race has been rescheduled again for August 29 and 30, 2020 instead. The reason for this change is because the 24 Hours of Le Mans is now postponed until September 19 and 20, 2020. In order to ensure both events have plenty of time to run smoothly, moving the 24 Heures Motos race forward by a week was necessary. 
• MotoGP and WSBK: Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta released a public letter encouraging the series paddocks and fans alike to stand strong and stay safe throughout this pandemic, and said he looks forward like all of us to when race seasons are in full swing. At this time, no further race rescheduling has been announced. However, MotoGP.com is now streaming ALL its content for free via MotoGP VideoPass! The free trial lasts until April 27, 2020, so if you’re missing racing, you have plenty of archival races, documentaries, and interviews going all the way back to 1992 to keep you busy.
• MotoAmerica: According to the latest statement issued March 17, 2020, the only race weekend that has been rescheduled so far is the COTA round with MotoGP, which will now run November 13 through 15, 2020. As it stands, the 2020 MotoAmerica season opener is still scheduled to take place in Braselton, Georgia at Road Atlanta during the weekend of April 17 through 19. This makes it just about the only national-level American sport series that is not postponing or rescheduling April events.

UPDATE MARCH 18, 2020: At this time, many series have announced postponements or cancellations as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. We have two new announcements to add to the list.

• North West 200: The race has now officially been postponed. It may be rescheduled at a later date that is yet to be determined, although race organizers said it would be “very difficult” to do so. Autosport also reported that the Cookstown 100 may be rescheduled for September 2020, pending pandemic considerations going forward throughout the year. Additionally, the Ulster Grand Prix in August may not go ahead due to financial problems rather than any reason related to public health. Northern Irish sanctioning body The Motorcycle Racing Association (Ireland) Limited has suspended all off-road racing events indefinitely for the foreseeable future, according to the Belfast Telegraph.
• British Superbikes: Official testing at Silverstone, which was originally scheduled for April 1 and 2, 2020, has now been canceled. The opening round of the 2020 BSB season was originally scheduled for April 10 through 12 at Silverstone, and will now be postponed until later on in the year. No additional information regarding a new date is available at this time.

PM UPDATE MARCH 16, 2020: The 2020 Isle of Man TT has now officially been canceled. It will not be rescheduled this year, IOM government officials said.

UPDATE, MARCH 16, 2020: Some American and Northern Irish 2020 race calendar changes have now been made public. Also, there’s a possible contingency plan being floated if the 2020 Isle of Man TT has to be rescheduled. Please note that so far, as of March 16, 2020, the 2020 IOMTT is still planned to go forward as scheduled according to race organizers and the IOM government.

Here are new details, listed by event:

• • North West 200: The annual road race as originally scheduled for May 2020, is now “in major doubt” according to the Belfast News Letter. The event, originally scheduled to kick off with a ‘Meet The Riders’ evening, has already had both the launch and that rider meeting postponed. A race organizer meeting is taking place today, after which more about the 2020 NW200 and its potential postponement will likely be announced. Other Republic of Ireland road racing events, as well as rugby and other sporting events, have already been postponed. 
  • Isle of Man TT: According to an official statement on the IOMTT website dated February 26, 2020, preparations are still underway for the 2020 fortnight of racing to proceed as scheduled. However, an IOM resident started a petition to get the 2020 IOMTT canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. That petition has 1500 signatures so far. One possible contingency plan for the 2020 IOMTT has been discussed, according to the Belfast News Letter. If the 2020 TT does end up being postponed, organizers may opt to hold it in August 2020 in place of the Classic TT and Manx GP. 
  • Monster Energy Supercross: The remainder of the 2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross championship has been postponed until further notice, according to an official announcement released on Twitter. Ten races for the 2020 season have been completed so far, with seven still remaining according to the original calendar. 
  • American Flat Track: The Daytona 200 and Daytona TT, which were both originally scheduled to take place over the weekend of March 14 and 15, 2020, have both officially been postponed. The Daytona 200 will now take place as part of Biketoberfest 2020, which runs from October 15 through 18. Meanwhile, the Daytona TT will be rescheduled at a future date, according to the official Twitter announcement from AFT.
  • MotoAmerica: At this time, apart from noting on its Twitter feed that its COTA weekend would continue to support MotoGP at COTA, and would therefore move with it, the MotoAmerica organization has not moved to cancel or postpone any events on its 2020 calendar. On March 13, it tweeted out a link to the AMA’s complete non-statement on COVID-19, which basically tells you to wash your hands and listen to the CDC, but offers little in the way of actual guidance beyond what literally everyone is already saying.

• British Superbikes: At this time, no calendar changes appear to have been made for 2020. However, at the time of writing, UK prime minister Boris Johnson is scheduled to have an emergency cabinet meeting and is expected to announce new country-wide measures in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Sky News.
• No additional changes to MotoGP, WSBK, or FIM EWC calendars have been made since our last update.

Original article from March 12, 2020 follows:

The 2020 international motorsport calendar continues to shift and change due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), International Road-Racing Teams Association (IRTA), and Dorna collectively announced that the Argentina MotoGP round originally scheduled for April will now be rescheduled for November. Meanwhile, the FIM and Dorna announced that both the Spanish and French rounds of World Superbike had now been rescheduled for October. 

The Argentina MotoGP round will now take place from November 20 through 22, 2020. It had originally been scheduled for April 17 through 19, but that plan is officially no more. As the 2020 MotoGP season currently stands, the new season opener will be the Gran Premio Red Bull de España at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto on the weekend of May 1 through 3, 2020. 

Both the FIM and Dorna also announced that as far as the World Superbike 2020 calendar is concerned, the Pirelli Spanish Round is now rescheduled for October 23 through 25. Previously, it was marked down for March 27 through 29. Additionally, the Pirelli French Round has now moved to the weekend of October 2 through 4. Previously, France was scheduled for September 25 through 27. 

Many professional racers are taking this additional time to do lots of dirt riding, as you’ve no doubt seen if you follow any of them on social media. 

 

That’s an impressive rooster tail!

 

You probably won’t see air like this on any MotoGP tracks this year (at least, we hope not).

 

Here are links to all the official series calendars:

MotoAmerica isn’t an international series. So far, the only change officials have announced is that the Circuit of the Americas rounds previously scheduled to take place over the MotoGP COTA weekend have also been rescheduled for the new MotoGP COTA date in November. We’ll keep any future schedule updates for MotoAmerica within this post, too.

As I’m sure everyone reporting any type of news has repeatedly mentioned, this is an ongoing and evolving situation. To keep everything simple, we’re making this post a one-stop-shop for 2020 race calendar updates going forward, and we’ll include dates on our updates so you can make sure you have the most current information available.

Sources: MotoGP, WSBK

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