NEWS FROM AROUND THE DIRT

Supercross and off-road race legend Ricky Johnson announced he has tested positive for COVID-19. Johnson made a video to his Instagram audience, saying he is not sure how he got the virus that is currently sweeping the nation. Johnson says he traveled extensively during the beginning of March. He attended a NASCAR race, rode a motorcycle all the way to Daytona, shook hands with people at the Daytona Supercross, then got on airplanes traveling through Orlando and Minneapolis airports. Once he returned, he says he began to feel a little sick, discounting it to the all the travel he had been doing. “The good news is I am 21 days into it and I am past all of the bad stuff,” says Johnson in the video.

Johnson was tested March 26th, 18 days into being sick. His test came back positive a few days later. Johnson also says his wife was sick in February and may have already had COVID-19. Today she shows no symptoms. Ricky Johnson says he got a ton of rest to get better as well as drank green tea, kept himself hydrated, took extra vitamin C, among other supplements and vitamins. Johnson posted additional videos explaining what the virus feels like and what made him feel better.

Motorsports legend Travis Pastrana has joined the Can-Am off-road family. Pastrana has accumulated 17 X-Games medals including 11 of those gold. He also has 5 gold medals from the Gravity Games and dozens of wins from other events on his resume. Pastrana has raced everything from Rally to NASCAR to Freestyle Motocross, and of course dozens of side-by-side vehicles.

“Can-Am makes the fastest and most durable side-by-side vehicles on the market,” said Pastrana. “After some coaxing by my good friend and the mechanic (Hubert Roland) who is always putting my broken vehicles back together, I gave a Can-Am Maverick X3 a shot on a 1,200-mile New Year’s trip in Baja. I was sold, and I’m happy to now be with a company that’s as excited as I am to push their vehicles to the limit. Since the switch we haven’t changed a single belt or axel at Pastranaland.” Pastrana joins Ken Block and Casey Currie as part of the Can-Am off-road family. Recently Can-Am saw great success at the

Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. Can-Am also swept the podium during the King of the UTV race at the King of the Hammers event in Johnson Valley, California. Pastrana and Can-Am have already started collaborating on a number of future projects.

Promoters Scramble to Reschedule Racing Events The COVID-19 crisis has caused the world economy to come to a grinding halt. Dozens of states have stay at home orders. Travel at this time is almost non-existent. Many people are working from home or not working at all. All sporting events have been put on hold with many cancelled indefinitely. While the future is currently uncertain, off-road promoters are scrambling to reschedule 2020 event dates. Here is what we know. Keep in mind the situation in the world is fluid and this information continues to change. SCORE INTERNATIONAL ▶

Originally the San Felipe 250 was scheduled for the end of March. SCORE then moved the race to May. The San Felipe 250 will now take place September 16th-20. SCORE is removing the Baja 400 from their schedule. The Baja 500 also has been pushed back to the middle of June. New race dates are June 17-21. This year’s Baja 1000 was originally scheduled to be a peninsula run, starting in Ensenada and finishing in La Paz. The race has been revised to a loop race starting and finishing in Ensenada.

NORRA ▶

Every year, the NORRA Mexican 1000 features a weeklong run down the Baja Peninsula finishing in San Jose Del Cabo with a huge party. Promoter Mike Pearlman held out hope the event would be able to happen in April. As travel restrictions at the border tightened, it was apparent the event would need to be moved. New dates for NORRA have been announced for October 3rd-10th.

The Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series has yet to host a single race this year. Rain forced the cancellation of the opening rounds at Glen Helen Raceway in mid-March. The series moved its April dates at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona to May 8th and 9th. Series director Ritchie Lewis said the series as of now is planning on running those dates and they are monitoring developments and federal guidelines from officials. Lucas Oil is also working on major track changes at Wild Horse Pass. The series says there are contingency plans in place should they need to reschedule the race again. BEST IN THE DESERT ▶

Best in The Desert was forced to postpone a motorcycle and UTV event in Laughlin in March. Also affected is the Silver State 300 scheduled at the end of April. No dates have been announced for either event. Best in The Desert has said the Silver State 300 could take place sometime in June.

SUPERCROSS ▶

The 2020 Supercross Season is frozen in time. Eli Tomac has the points lead over Ken Roczen. Four points separate the two riders. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world and the government announced strict social distancing guidelines, Supercross was forced to cancel events one-byone. There are seven rounds left on the schedule. Supercross says they plan on running those events sometime later in the year.

LUCAS OIL PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP ▶

The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship typically has their opening round at Hangtown in Northern California in May after the Supercross season ends. That event has been cancelled. The series made major modifications to the season schedule with a new season opener to be held at WW Ranch Motocross Park in Jacksonville, Florida on June 13th. The series will end Labor Day weekend at Fox Raceway at Pala in Southern California.