Tales from the first socially distanced, pits-closed, masks-required professional motocross series held in the middle of a global pandemic

WORDS: DAVEY COOMBS
PHOTOS: ALIGN MEDIA

Like a lot of things these days, it started with a Zoom call. A group of motorsports people all got on the same page to confront the question of how and when racing might return. It was late March, the global pandemic had set in, and the shutdown was on. Monster Energy AMA Supercross had been stopped in its tracks. The shutdown came so fast that the track already built inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis would become the best stadium motocross track ever made but never ridden. The FIM’s MXGP tour ground to a halt after just two rounds, the Big East college basketball tournament abandoned at halftime of the first game, the NBA, NHL, NASCAR, and every other form of sports known by their initials were at a full and sudden stop. Fortunately, the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship was still two full months away from beginning. This coronavirus thing is just gonna disappear, right?