It’s Official: Team USA Will Not Attend 2021 Motocross of Nations
Well, it’s official now: Team USA will not be attending the 2021 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations. Confirmed at Fox Raceway at Pala, the site of the 11th round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship on Saturday, Team USA will not be sending a team to Italy for the event on September 25 and 26. With the ongoing issues with COVID-19 and international travel, it was decided that not attending this year's event was the best for all parties involved.
Below is the full press release.
PICKERINGTON, Ohio—The American Motorcyclist Association will not participate in the 2021 Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme Motocross of Nations, Sept. 25-26 in Mantova, Italy. Ongoing COVID-19 mitigation efforts and ever-changing travel restrictions presented logistical challenges that contributed to the U.S. team’s decision.
“A number of issues have contributed to the logistical difficulty of attending the 2021 Motocross of Nations, on both an individual and team level, and these have been exacerbated greatly by current and expected COVID-19 mitigation efforts surrounding the event,” said AMA Director of Racing Mike Pelletier. “Due to the sizeable financial risk faced by all the team stakeholders, and the unknowns in play here, we came to the unanimous conclusion that suspending our participation was the responsible decision.”
“The AMA takes great pride in our efforts to compete in the Motocross of Nations each year, and we hope to return to the Motocross of Nations in 2022,” Pelletier added. “As we look forward to competing again in 2022, it’s our goal to bring back the Chamberlain Trophy to the U.S. once again.”
The FIM-sanctioned Motocross of Nations is a world championship team event featuring three-rider national teams. They compete for a combined score, which determines the overall championship-winning country.
The U.S. team is the all-time leader in FIM Motocross of Nations overall team victories, with 22 overall wins. Most of those wins took place under five-time Motocross World Champion and AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Roger DeCoster’s direction, with the most recent U.S. Motocross of Nations win coming in 2011.
