IRVINE, Calif. – MotoAmerica has announced that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the Governor of Wisconsin’s safer-at-home order being set to expire on May 26, the racing portion of the opening round of the MotoAmerica Series on May 29-31 at Road America will continue, but without fans.
Road America and MotoAmerica worked diligently to find an alternative, but the task proved impossible due to unknown restrictions that may be placed on public outdoor events.
MotoAmerica, however, is planning to return to Road America on June 26-28, along with all previously scheduled activities, including Vintage MotoFest. The June 26-28 event will also feature the MotoAmerica Heritage Cup and the opening round of the Mini Cup by Motul.
All five classes of the premier National motorcycle road racing championship in the U.S. – Superbike, Supersport, Liqui Moly Junior Cup, Stock 1000 and Twins Cup – will compete in the series opener, May 29-31.
“We worked hard with Road America to try to make the original date work with fans, but after Governor Evers extended the safer-at-home order to May 26, we couldn’t make it work due to the unknown restrictions on public outdoor gatherings,” said MotoAmerica President Wayne Rainey. “But we still intend to run the event May 29-31, without fans and air it on Fox Sports and MotoAmerica Live+. This is not something we ever imagined, but then again we never thought we’d be faced with something like COVID-19. We will continue to work towards making the event special for everyone tuning into the broadcast and will keep everyone posted moving forward for the next event in June. In the meantime, we urge our fans, teams, and riders to continue to do the right things to keep them safe and healthy.”
“This event attracts competitors and fans, not only from the U.S. but around the world,” said Road America President and General Manager, Mike Kertscher. “As of today, we cannot predict when we will be at a point that our public outdoor events meet the proper criteria for mass public gatherings in the state of Wisconsin. Make no mistake, we intend to come back stronger and ready to continue with our existing June events – including the WeatherTech Chicago Region SCCA June Sprints, June 12-14, and the IndyCar REV Group Grand Prix presented by AMR, June 18-21. We also anticipate by mid-June, there will be further transparency to safely host outdoor events, which is a primary factor for why we added a weekend in June.”