Team USA has pulled out of the MX of Nations in Italy this month due to tightening travel restrictions due to the pandemic. The official statement says:

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.