Image: Octopi Media.

Organisers of Monster Energy Supercross have confirmed that the 2020 season is intended to continue with rounds 11-17 to be completed in the later months of this year.

This year’s championship has been suspended due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, however, it is anticipated that all rounds will take place.

Rounds 11 through to 15 had already been cancelled, with Feld Entertainment now announcing Las Vegas and Salt Lake City have also been cancelled. Instead, the remaining seven rounds are planned to take place later in the year.

Supercross is expected to resume following the completion of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross, which outlined its revised calendar late last week to be held between 13 June in Florida and 5 September at Fox Raceway.

That would likely result in Supercross recommencing mid-September and running through October over seven consecutive weekends. Locations and dates haven’t been finalized yet, according to Feld Entertainment.

Image: Josh Stephenson.

Reigning Australian MX1 champion Todd Waters has taken the wraps off of his Berry Sweet Husqvarna team that will include himself and Regan Duffy for the 2020 season.

Following the collapse of the title-winning DPH Motorsport organisation last year, Waters has moved to form his own program with the support of Husqvarna.

In addition to Waters’ Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC) and Hattah Desert Race commitments previously outlined, both Waters and Duffy will collectively contest the MX Nationals, Manjimup 15,000 and Australian Supercross Championship.

“We are pleased to release the official 2020 Berry Sweet Husqvarna Race Team Australia MX/SX/Off-Road,” Waters commented. “The end of 2019 and the start of this year has been filled with excitement, challenges and a lot of phone calls and emails!

“Just when everything had fallen into place, we are now all facing an uncertain future for racing and sports in Australia and across the world. Despite this, we have a team of great people and sponsors ready to support Regan and I to achieve our goals this year, whenever our competitions can resume.”

“The main focus of our team set-up this year is to replicate that family atmosphere, bring it all back to basics and with a limited budget, spend money where it’s actually important.

“I’ve spent way too many hours in previous years travelling in a van from my home to the team workshop to pick up bikes and parts. We are creating a setup that allows as little disruption to the riders’ training programs as possible, something that I think gets lost in a lot of factory teams. I can’t wait to showcase what we’ve created.”

Duffy, 17, captured the MX Nationals MXD championship last season at his first attempt, now slated to step up to MX2 alongside team owner and mentor Waters as previously reported on MotoOnline last week.

Image: Supplied.

The 2020 Australian Four-Day Enduro (A4DE) scheduled to be held in Erica, Victoria, during May has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Motorcycling Australia (MA) confirmed this morning that this year’s A4DE won’t be going ahead as COVID-19 continues to cause chaos in the national calendar.

“Government restrictions imposed have now made it impossible for the event to continue,” a statement from MA announced. “With daily government policy and guideline changes in relation to COID-19, travel, mass gatherings and social distancing, MA and Dandenong Motorcycle Club have agreed to cancel A4DE.

“Following discussions between MA, Trail and Enduro Motorcycle Club of WA and Dandenong Motorcycle Club, Victoria, it has been agreed that the 2021 A4DE will be held in Western Australia as previously announced and the 2022 event will now be held in Erica, Victoria.”

As per today’s announcement from MA, next year’s A4DE will take place in Western Australia, before the 2022 edition is held in Victoria at the Erica venue that was due to host this year’s event.

Image: Foremost Media.

The start of the 2020 MXstore MX Nationals is near certain to be delayed until mid-year when the Conondale round is scheduled to be hosted in Queensland on 28 June.

Latest information from Motorcycling Australia (MA) on the COVID-19 pandemic indicates that Newry and Gympie are the latest national events to be postponed.

It was initially announced that Horsham’s opening two double-header rounds scheduled for 4-5 April were postponed, however, it’s now been confirmed that both Newry and Gympie will also be affected as a result of coronavirus.

Information on the status of those three events postponed isn’t anticipated until mid-April, with the trio now set to take place in the ‘second half of 2020’ following the traditional mid-season break, making Conondale round one of the season. Further revisions could be made if the crisis continues to escalate into the coming months.

Outdoor gatherings in Australia are currently limited to fewer than 500 people, with indoor gatherings reduced further to 100 people with added restrictions in place. It’s understood that Williams Event Management’s (WEM) Kevin Williams will provide further details on the series postponements next week.

These latest MX Nationals calendar adjustments will make for a tight schedule with all nine rounds – six events – to be fit in across three months prior to the beginning of the Australian Supercross Championship, which is pencilled in for the first weekend of October.

An updated supercross calendar has been circulated throughout the industry in recent weeks and listed as ‘confidential’ prior to the growing coronavirus fears, with series organisers AUS SX Holdings yet to make the intended dates or states public information. Round promoters or venues are yet to disclosed.

This most recent draft calendar is vastly different to the provisional one initially included in MA’s national events calendar last November and modified since. It also suggests that New Zealand’s S-X Open Auckland round won’t be part of the AUS Supercross series if it does in fact continue.

The supercross schedule includes rounds in Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria over a two-month span through October and November. It remains unclear if it will be altered due to COVID-19 and when it is eventually formalised.