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While most professional motorcycle racing series spent the spring announcing revised schedules multiple times as the pandemic delayed events with large gatherings, the organizers of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross series have now set a hard start date and a finishing round for the outdoor season while acknowledging that many of the details in between are still up in the air.
But the biggest surprise in the announcement was the plan to run a pro national motocross race at the Loretta Lynn Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. That event will be a homecoming for most of the competitors in the series, as the track has long been the site of the AMA National Motocross Championship. Every year, the top amateur racers from around the country qualify for the week of racing in the August heat at Loretta Lynn's and it has been the testing crucible where many pro motocross careers have been launched.
"Though Loretta Lynn’s is not a traditional pro national venue, these are not traditional times, and series managers are working hard to schedule nationals at venues in states that are open for business," said a statement issued by the Race Leadership Team, a group that includes representatives of the AMA and series organizer MX Sports.
The second half of that sentence explains a lot about the way the series schedule looks currently. Some states are relaxing coronavirus-related restrictions on large gatherings much more than others, and the motocross series has long-standing events with a lot of tradition behind them in both. Tennessee has been among the states with more lenient restrictions, so adding the Loretta Lynn's event is a little easier. And while the track itself is not typical for a pro event, it will certainly be a sentimental favorite for many riders to return to.
The season will now start July 18 at Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana, with an event televised on NBC. The series expects fans to be allowed to attend based on Indiana's current guidelines for events. The start date is a change from earlier plans to open the series on July 4, which would have given teams only a 13-day span between the end of the Monster Energy Supercross series and the first outdoor round. The last round is planned for Fox Raceway in Pala, California, on October 10. The entire 2020 series is expected to consist of 10 or possibly 11 rounds.
Many of the details in between those opening and closing rounds remain to be determined. Several states that currently have tighter restrictions are home to tracks that host traditional rounds in the series, such as Unadilla in New York, Red Bud in Michigan and Budds Creek in Maryland.
