COVID-19 resurgence already affecting optimistic 2021 racing schedules

When I wrote recently about plans for the major professional motorcycle racing series in 2021, I suggested that the schedules were more a statement of hope than a firm promise. And I added that the MotoGP schedule looked most optimistic of all, since it basically returned to the regular schedule of past years with no adjustments for the ongoing pandemic.

Now, that schedule is already being affected as the planned preseason test at Sepang in Malaysia has been canceled. Earlier today, Malaysia declared a state of emergency as new COVID-19 cases hit a daily record high. MotoGP quickly announced that the test planned for February 19 through 21 was canceled. MotoGP had hoped to pull off the test by creating a tightly controlled bubble, with teams only going to a single hotel and the track and nowhere else, but the state of emergency scrapped even that.

Formula One is another series that put out a schedule that was optimistically like previous years, and it, too, has already been affected. The opening round in Australia has been moved from late March to November. That's what the World Superbike Championship, which also traditionally begins its season in Australia, did from the start.

At this point, the first MotoGP test is scheduled for March 10 to 12 in Qatar, two weeks before the first scheduled race at the same track. That's to be followed by the Argentina round on April 11 and the Grand Prix of the Americas at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas on April 18.

The traditional MotoGP schedule of three overseas races before the series returns to 11 races all in Europe during the summer, and ending with another series of races in Asia, looked optimistic to me last month, and COVID-19 cases have only grown since then. As a betting man, I'm not counting on a U.S. round of MotoGP happening in April — at least not in front of fans.