Netherlands Postponed, MXGP Will Start June 13 in Russia

March 31, 2021, 3:00pm

Mitch KendraSenior Online Content Manager

Last week, MXVice reported the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship schedule would be changing in the near future due to COVID-19. In the post, Lewis Phillips explained the MXGP of The Netherlands (set to open the 2021 season on May 23) had been postponed. The MXVice posted included the following press release on the opener:

Organiser of the MXGP round at Oss, Elbert Dollevoet, has, in consultation with Infront Motorsport, decided to postpone the event and they will jointly seek an alternative date. Multiple parties, including local authorities, had diligently been working on a comprehensive safety plan for the event, but the ongoing coronavirus pandemic made holding the event on the original date infeasible.

“It is regrettable that we have had to cancel our plans for 23 May,” Ebert Dollevoet said. “It was scheduled to have been the opening GP of the season. All our work is not in vain, though, and everything just gets transferred to the new date. We have to remain realistic and contribute all we can toward bringing the virus under control. We are not sure of the alternative date yet, but will announce it as soon as it’s been fixed. We would like to thank the municipality of Oss and all our partners and colleagues for all the support and tremendous hard work. We are doing all that we can to ensure a spectacular event.”

Our colleague Adam Wheeler wrote about some of the changes to the schedule in a post on OnTrackOffRoad.com earlier today. Wheeler spoke with Infront Moto Racing CEO David Luongo who said the following:

“It has been two weeks of very complicated work because to modify one race means things change a lot for another and the travel involved. It’s been a crazy time but, I have to say, a bit better than the situation last year as we still have a lot of organisers that are determined to hold events with public in attendance and by pushing the races back later there is hope that they can happen. We can only work around what we have and, if necessary, we have to move into Plan B, Plan C, Plan D and so on.”

Wheeler reported the organizers are targeting a “minimum of eighteen events in 2021 and hope to avoid a repeat of 2020 where at least five circuits staged triple headers but he also conceded that it’s ‘too early to say’ whether back-to-back races at the same venue could be another possibility.” Luongo also added: “The overseas race will be pushed back to the end of the season where we hope the situation for international travel might be better.”

Now, official word from Infront Moto Racing has come through. The MXGP of Netherlands has been moved to July and the MXGP of Russia—still scheduled for June 13—will start the season.

Below is the official press release from Infront Moto Racing and the full schedule.

MONACO (Principality of Monaco)—Infront Moto Racing would like to inform on the updates to the 2021 calendar of the FIM Motocross World Championship.

Due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, the decision has been made to delay the start of the upcoming season, as the FIM Motocross World Championship will kick off in Orlyonok with the MXGP of Russia on the 12th – 13th of June.

The updated calendar will also welcome back the MXGP of Great Britain in Matterley Basin on the 26th – 27th of June, followed by the MXGP of Italy at the legendary circuit of Maggiora on the 3rd – 4th of July. MXGP of Latvia, MXGP of the Netherlands and Czech Republic will come next in July, before heading to the deep sand of Lommel for the MXGP of Flanders in August.

MXGP will then move to Sweden on the 14th and 15th of August, followed by the MXGP of Finland and MXGP of Turkey.

The newest addition to the 2021 racing calendar is the MXGP of Sardegna, with the popular winter training facility of Riola Sardo hosting the round 11 of the campaign, with the EMX65 and EMX85 Championship races held on the same weekend.

The championship will then continue with the MXGP of Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Trentino in October, with a venue for the French Grand Prix to be confirmed soon.

The season will then conclude with three fly-away races, in Argentina on the 13th – 14th of November, followed by the MXGP of Asia and Indonesia on the 27th - 28th of November and 4th - 5th of December.

Meanwhile the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations will go ahead on the 26th of September, as originally planned, with the Italian circuit in Mantova confirmed as the newest host of the prestigious event.

Additionally, the FIM-E Motocross of European Nations scheduled on the 18th and 19th of September, will now be as TBA, with more details to be announced at a later date.

The same race format as last year will be used during the upcoming season meaning that MXGP and MX2 will all run on Sunday and EMX and WMX run all on Saturday. The decision to run a one day format was made due to the tight racing schedule in order to allow more recovery time for the riders and the team staff.

Infront Moto Racing is hopeful that with the recent development of the vaccine, there will be a possibility to finally welcome back spectators in the summer months, which is very important to our beloved sport.

We would like to thank the FIM, FIM-Europe, all the organisers and federations along with the teams, riders, partners and fans for their continued support and understanding, as MXGP remain committed to bringing another epic season of racing!

* all times UTC