As at August 3rd, PRI President Dr. Jamie Meyer said that the organization was still committed to seeing the 2020 PRI Trade Show go ahead. However, slated for December 10-12 at the Indiana Convention Center, at the time of writing, a final, formal approval from the Marion County Health Department was still required and pending. Meyer stated that PRI "is committed to helping the racing community get through the challenges it currently faces due to the coronavirus pandemic. Providing the racing industry with a venue where they can conduct business safely, efficiently and productively is PRI’s top priority."
Originally scheduled for June, the 2020 iteration of the Biarritz, France based Wheels and Waves celebration of all things Moto Culture and associated Flat Track Racing and 'Punks Peak' Hill Climb has been cancelled for a second time. It had been rearranged for September 3 to 6 this year, but the organizers have now had to 'wave the white flag of surrender' and hope to be able to stage a 10th Edition in June 2021.
New EU standards will include 'crash testing' with helmets having to undergo impact tests at oblique angles. Testers will use 45-degree angle impacts to measure how add-ons such as helmet-mounted Bluetooth comms and action cameras affect energy absorption and rotational protection during a crash. The new requirements will co-exist with the current ECE 22.05, replacing them completely (as ECE.06) in 2023.
The AMA withdrew its three-man United States team from the 2020 FIM Motocross of Nations just two weeks before the event itself was cancelled. The event had been slated to be staged in the UK (September 25-27). Billed as the "Olympics of Motocross," the MXoN has been staged every year since 1947. The 'winningest' country in MXoN history with 22 wins to its name, the USA last brought the Chamberlain Trophy back to home soil in 2011.
In the absence of being able to race at Austin, Texas (or elsewhere outside Europe in the rescheduled season), the spectacular, twisting, undulating Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, Portimao, Portugal, is to make its MotoGP debut hosting a 15th and season final race on November 20-22nd. The Autodromo has been the reserve track for MotoGP since 2017; the venue has been on the WSBK calendar for some time. This will be the first MotoGP in Portugal since Estoril in 2012.
Fox Factory Holding Corp (the parent company of FOX Shocks etc.) reports "resilient" second quarter sales down by -4.7% ($183.1m) with a gross margin increase of 40 bp to 32.8%. Net income attributable to FOX stockholders was $12.6m, or 6.9% of sales and $0.32 of earnings per diluted share, compared to $22.9m or 11.9% of sales and $0.59 of earnings per diluted share in the same period last fiscal year.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, B&B, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com
