2020 Pro Motocross | RedBud Doubleheader Dates Changed
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More news for the 2020 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, even though it hasn’t gotten a widespread press release push that one would expect. On Friday evening Davey Coombs, Editor in Chief of Racer X and President of MX Sports Pro Racing, dropped a very big detail in the weekly wrapup Racerhead article on racerxonline.com and announced that the doubleheader dates for the 2020 RedBud Motocross rounds will now take place on September 4 and September 7. The races will be run on Friday and Monday of the Labor Day Weekend, not the Saturday and Tuesday of the original schedule. Per Coombs, the change was made to better fit in the television broadcast schedule that NBC Sports has during the holiday weekend in the US. This change is pretty important as riders, teams, and even amateur day participants will have to alter their plans accordingly.
First, we’ll talk about what it means for the competitors in Pro Motocross. The round prior to this, the 2020 Ironman Motocross, will run as expected on Saturday, August 29. Luckily, it’s just a three-hour/150+ mile drive from the front gates of the Ironman track in Indiana to RedBud’s parking lot in Michigan. That’s a quick trip for rig drivers, especially after back-to-back cross-country hauls from Tennessee to Washington state to Indiana that they have to do to start the season, and they’d probably get it done by Wednesday afternoon.
What the riders and mechanics do is another thing. Sure, riders could fly home from Indianapolis on Saturday night or Sunday morning after the Ironman race is over, then get back on a plane Thursday and head to Chicago or South Bend. It’d be worth the money and travel to spend four days at home in the usual routine, riding at the practice tracks and sleeping in their own bed. Or, they could stay in Indiana and take part in the practice session open only to AMA Pro Licensed riders, which is being planned at Ironman the Tuesday after the race.
This could be a nice change of scenery for riders and teams because this is an excellent chance to ride their bikes at a top-tier track that’s not Glen Helen or Fox Raceway. It’s rare for factory teams in US MX to hold test sessions at tracks that they race on that are outside of their SoCal locale. Ironman has been on the Pro Motocross calendar since 2014, with dirt, ruts, and weather that is more similar to RedBud/WW Ranch/High Point/Budds Creek.
As for the amateur days that are attached to every round of Pro Motocross, details of how one can participate at RedBud are starting to hit the track’s website, but there’s still a lot to be figured out and announced. The current plan is to hold three amateur events over the course of the weekend at RedBud, and per their post, “the weekend will be a true PRO-AM event, with separate PRO and AMATEUR practice and racing. While both will ride mostly the same track on different days, pro riders & crews and amateur riders & crews will remain in separate areas. The pro paddock will be very tightly restricted and follow the MX Sports safety protocols. The amateur paddock is a separate area and will follow RedBud safety protocols. Pro paddock access will be through the Main Street entrance, amateur paddock access through the Red Bud Trail entrance.”
In an effort to keep people from getting close together, the bleachers and grandstands that dot the facility will be closed off and there will be no activities that cause people to gather in a large group. Although masks are not specifically stated to be required, the track says that everyone coming to the track should have a facial covering of some sort. Because Michigan’s restrictions are ever-changing, this is one detail that will be confirmed and announced closer to race weekend.
If you’re planning to camp out and race the amateur day at RedBud, then come prepared and with a full tank of water in your rig. There will be no hook-ups on-site and no showers, but there will be restroom trailers and portapotties. You can bring your power washer to hose the muck off the bike at your campsite, but the power wash area located in the pro pits will not be accessible to the public.
