In January, a respiratory illness first reported in Wuhan, China began spreading at an alarming rate. It was named “coronavirus disease 2019,” officially abbreviated to COVID-19, and commonly referred to as “coronavirus.”
Most people who get COVID-19 suffer mild flu-like symptoms, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while about 16% of cases result in serious illness. Some cases end up being fatal, especially in elderly patients and others with underlying health conditions.
From China, COVID-19 has spread to nearly 155 countries around the world in less than three months, infecting approximately 190,000 people and killing 7,500, according to Johns Hopkins University, while over 80,000 cases are classified as “recovered.”
To slow the spread of COVID-19, many countries have implemented travel restrictions, stay-at-home lockdown orders, nightly curfews, bans on gatherings of groups of people as small as 10, and even more measures.
This has led to the postponement and cancellation of professional sporting events, including motorcycle road racing events, around the globe.
Here is a list of postponed and cancelled motorcycle road racing and flat track racing events that we know about:
FIM MotoGP World Championship:
Races at Thailand (moved from March 20-22 and now scheduled for November 20-22); Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas (moved from April 3-5 and now scheduled for November 13-15); and Argentina (moved April 17-19 and now scheduled for November 13-15) have been postponed until later in 2020. Events at MotorLand Aragon (moved from October 2-4 and now scheduled for September 25-27) and Valencia (moved from November 13-15 and now scheduled for November 27-29) were rescheduled to accommodate the postponements.
As it stands right now, racing is scheduled to resume May 1-3 at Jerez, Spain.
FIM Superbike World Championship:
Races at Losail (originally on March 13-15 and now TBA); Jerez (originally March 27-29 and now October 23-25); and Magny-Cours (originally September 25-27 and now October 2-4) have been postponed until later in 2020.
As it stands right now, racing is scheduled to resume April 17-19 at Assen.
FIM Endurance World Championship:
The 24-Hours of Le Mans race has been postponed from April 18-19 until September 5-6, making it the new 2019-2020 season finale.
As it stands right now, the series is scheduled to resume June 4-6 with the 8-Hours of Oschersleben.
MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series:
The first Superbike races of the season were scheduled to take place during the MotoGP event April 3-5 at Circuit of The Americas, which was postponed by MotoGP. MotoAmerica has not yet decided if it will reschedule its Superbike races during the event’s new date, on November 13-15.
MotoAmerica is now scheduled to start its 2020 season on April 17-19 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, but MotoAmerica has advised its stakeholders that this event is subject to change based upon the constantly evolving situation with the COVID-19 outbreak.
Daytona 200 – ASRA/CCS:
At the end of the first day of practice and qualifying at the Daytona 200 on Friday, March 13th (the same day President Donald Trump declared a state of national emergency to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak), Daytona International Speedway announced that it was postponing the Daytona 200 until the weekend of October 16-18.
American Flat Track:
The first three events of 2020 – the Daytona TT (March 14); Atlanta Short Track (March 28); and Charlotte Half-Mile (April 4) – have been postponed to dates that will be announced later. As of right now, American Flat Track (AFT) is scheduled to resume racing May 2 at the Texas Half-Mile in Fort Worth, Texas, but AFT has suspended ticket sales for the Texas Half-Mile and the So-Cal Half-Mile, which is scheduled on May 9 in Perris, California.
WERA National Series:
The National Challenge and Sportsman Series event scheduled March 21-22 at Roebling Road Raceway has been postponed with the new date to be determined at a later time.
AHRMA American Historic Racing Series:
The AHRMA road race event scheduled for March 27-29 at Carolina Motorsports Park has been postponed with the new date to be announced later. The events scheduled April 17-19 at the Streets of Willow and April 24-26 at Willow Springs International Raceway are both “under review” with decisions scheduled to be announced on March 31, according to AHRMA.
Australian Superbike Championship:
The second round of the series scheduled March 27-29 at Wakefield Park Raceway, which had been planned to take place without spectators and with strict limitations on the number of crew members for each entrant, has been postponed with no new date announced.
As of right now, the next scheduled Australian Superbike race is May 7-10 at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia.
British Superbike Championship:
The opening round of the series April 10-12 at Silverstone has been postponed to a date to be announced later.
As of today, the series will begin May 1-3 at Oulton Park.
Canadian Superbike Championship:
The season is still on schedule to start May 22-24 at Shannonville Motorsport Park.
CEV Repsol (Spanish) Series and European Talent Cup:
As of right now, the series is scheduled to start racing April 24-26 at Autodromo Internationale do Algarve, in Portugal.
Update: As of March 23, this event has been postponed until a date to be announced later in the year.
CIV (Italian) Series:
As of today, the CIV (Italian) Championship Series is still slated to start April 25-26 at Misano.
IDM (German) Series:
As of today, the IDM (German) Championship Series is still on course to start May 8-10 at Sachsenring.
MFJ Superbike All-Japan Road Race Championship:
As of today, the All-Japan Championship season will start as scheduled April 4-5 at Suzuka, according to the series’ official website.
North West 200:
The North West 200, an event held on closed-off public roads in Northern Ireland, was scheduled to run May 10-16, but it has been postponed with the new date still to be announced.
Isle of Man TT:
The Isle of Man TT, which was scheduled to take place May 30-June 13, has been cancelled.
In addition to racing organizations cancelling events to comply with COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines, some racetracks have also decided to shut down temporarily, affecting the schedules of numerous track day organizations and riding schools.
Those planning to attend a riding school or track day in the next eight weeks should contact the event organizer to check the status of their event before traveling.
It goes without saying that the situation with the COVID-19 outbreak is constantly evolving and any and all events are subject to change, postponement, and cancellation with little or no advance notice.
