The COVID-19 outbreak has officially broken into the karting world in North America as series officials from the Challenge of the Americas have postponed the third and final round their winter championship. In the statement below, Andy Seeseman breaks down the reasoning for postponement and the replacement date, which is currently scheduled for May 15-17 at Sonoma Raceway in California.
Wow. What a difference 3 hours makes.
About an hour ago, Gavin Newsom, the Governor of CA, made a executive order to mandate that all gatherings with more than 250 people be cancelled or postponed for the next few weeks. This is no longer a recommendation, it is an executive mandate, carrying with it certain penalties.
At that point, the track and I were forced to officially postpone the Challenge of the Americas finale to May 15-17, 2020.
This was already a California ROK Championship event weekend on our calendar. We will determine how to blend the two events at a later date. The event obviously will be at Sonoma. There is no need right now to discuss any details, as I simply wanted to get this information out to everyone.
I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, but I certainly hope that everyone understands the position that we have all been put in.
If this May event gets cancelled by any further issues with COVID-19, the 2020 Challenge of the Americas will officially end. There will not be another postponement.
Thank you for your continued support throughout this difficult situation.
Andy
We’ve already seen how this outbreak has affected karting in Europe, especially Italy, where many race dates have been pushed back by government regulations. What we don’t know yet, is how it could affect our Canadian season, which is scheduled to get started in early May.
We will keep tabs on this topic and update as neccesary when we know more information.
Keep washing your hands CKN Nation, it’s more than just grease we need to be concerned about at the moment.
