Column: Coronavirus writes cross history
When reading this title, most of you may roll your eyes... Corona news again? However, we cannot ignore the fact that Corona has an impact on our daily lives. The course of the Motocross World Championship will also look very different this year, according to columnist Frederik Van Eeckhoven.
At the time of writing, the Cornon virus has caused approximately eight fatalities in Belgium and the Netherlands. With 1013 infected people in the total population of almost 28,6 million lowlanders (the Netherlands and Belgium together), the situation appears to be reasonably under control at the moment.
However, we cannot ignore the measures to keep the disease under control, because they hit us hard. Even in our favorite sport we cannot escape these measures. For example, we have already seen the Italian Grand Prix being moved, but also the competitions in Portugal, Spain and Argentina have already been axed, and it is precisely these three Grand Prix competitions that give the championship a historic character.
Historically late motocross GP
The postponed matches have already been given a new date. For example, the Grand Prix of Spain will take place on October 10 and 11, the Grand Prix of Portugal on October 17 and 18 and the Grand Prix in Argentina will take place on November 21 and 22. Never before in the history of motocross of nations has a Grand Prix been organized after this event, let alone three grand prix races, the last of which took place about two months after the traditional end of the season, which is what motocross of nations is.
The fact that these three races will be held after the “MXdN” race at the end of September will not be an easy obstacle for the pilots to overcome. Normally a rider takes a break of 2 to 3 weeks after the Motocross of Nations. Many riders even take a longer break to have some ailments treated. Some, mainly Frenchmen, who are invited to participate in certain Supercross events and are paid handsomely for this, extend their season until mid-November, and then take a well-deserved rest.
Now the entire GP circus will have to extend their season until the end of November, I am curious what impact this will have on both the winter program of the drivers and on the transfer market. There is already the problem of teams working with contracts that only run until October 31. I can imagine that some teams would rather start testing with their new drivers instead of incurring travel and other costs for pilots who will soon leave the team.
Extra recovery time for injured people!
Postponing races does not only affect what the end of the season will look like. The long break between the Grand Prix of Valkenswaard and the next Grand Prix (I dare not mention France) comes at an opportune time for some pilots. Not that they can do anything about it, but 9-time world champion Antonio Cairoli could be completely fit by the next Grand Prix. The same applies to Jorge Prado Garcia, who can benefit from the “Corona break” to gain some strength in his thigh.
This break is also perfect for Julien Lieber, as an extra sick leave after his wrist operation. The same goes for Roan van de Moosdijk, who suffered an ankle injury in Valkenswaard and has since undergone surgery. Romain Febvre will also undoubtedly be ready for the next MXGP race. In the MX2 there is Thomas Kjer Olson again; his wrist and hand injury will feel better by the next grand prix, whenever that may be. This allows the Husqvarna pilot to get involved in the title fight and we may see a great 3-way battle.
But let's put everything into perspective. My mates and I had little to no interest in the Turkish Grand Prix last year, no nice circuit, no significance for the championship anymore and the season had already gone on long enough. In the same conversation we even came to the conclusion that we had forgotten that racing was also taking place in China. None of us had seen this match live or even watched the highlights. So how important will the matches that are now moved to a date after the Nations match still be?
More or less sporting importance for MXGP Argentina?
The fact is that in the last 10 years, only 4 of the 20 championships (MXGP + MX2) were settled in the very last Grand Prix: 2009 MX2 – 2014 MX2 – 2015 MX2 – 2017 MX2. The fact is also that overseas Grand Prix's at the end of the season are not popular with teams or pilots. For example, we had an average of 14 professionals per class when there was an overseas Grand Prix at the end of the season (not counting the USGPs).
So we can safely say that for the MXGP of Argentina some pilots will have an “injury”. And unless there is still a title fight going on, there will be little interest among the wider public.
Undoubtedly, the dates of the Grand Prix of Spain, Portugal and Argentina will now also have an impact on the 'Motorcross of Nations' selections. It has been a painful development for several years that (factory) teams prefer not to let their pilots participate in the 'Motorcross of Nations'. According to the teams, this competition has no commercial value. So put a few more Grand Prix's behind the 'Motocross des Nations' and then these teams will have their stick ready to hit the national federations with. However, this MXDN story is something for a next column, stay tuned!
Tekst: Frederik Van Eeckhoven
Photos: Gino Maes, Jey Crunch, JP Acevedo, Ray Archer
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