The season-opening MXGP at Oss in scheduled for May 23 will be moved to a later date due to Covid restrictions in Holland. That means the first GP could be in Russia on June 13, but it’s believed the calendar will be altered before then. It comes in the same week the French GP organisers at St. Jean d’Angeley on October 10 backed out of running the GP due to difficulties with lockdown restrictions.

The official info from the Dutch organisers says: “Organiser of the MXGP round at Oss, Elbert Dollevoet, has, in consultation with Infront Motorsport, decided to postpone the event and they will jointly seek an alternative date. Multiple parties, including local authorities, had diligently been working on a comprehensive safety plan for the event, but the ongoing coronavirus pandemic made holding the event on the original date infeasible.

“It is regrettable that we have had to cancel our plans for 23 May,” Ebert Dollevoet said. “It was scheduled to have been the opening GP of the season. All our work is not in vain, though, and everything just gets transferred to the new date. We have to remain realistic and contribute all we can toward bringing the virus under control. We are not sure of the alternative date yet, but will announce it as soon as it’s been fixed. We would like to thank the municipality of Oss and all our partners and colleagues for all the support and tremendous hard work. We are doing all that we can to ensure a spectacular event.”

The news of the French cancellation came from the club chairman Jean-Marie Boissonnot who said there are still too many uncertainties at the moment and no one knows what the government will decide by then. The circuit will organise several non-world championship meetings.