The Moment: The Delay

First off, the delay was because of lightning expected soon in the area. Initially when the delay happened, there was no rain falling or lightning visible inside the stadium. I covered the timeline of the delay from my perspective in the press box in my Saturday Night Live race report on Sunday, so I will spare the entire detailed updates. The stadium itself made the call to clear the track/lower bowl area because of expected lightning in the area (we were later told this is an often occurrence at said venue, it also has happened at NFL games). The 250SX riders disappeared back up the tunnel as a message was played over the loudspeakers and shown on the jumbotron video boards asking fans to take cover inside the stadium (tunnel for those on track, concourse for those in the seats without cover).

The expected weather did eventually show up. Shortly into the break, the rain started to fall. And man, did it come down hard. Eventually, the track was a soggy, sloppy mess. Most riders had their bikes prepped just as they did for the beginning of the night show, so as teams found out they would be racing again shortly in the mud, they went into a shuffle mode in the tunnel, prepping both bike and rider gear for the different conditions. For 250 teams, this was extra challenging because the bikes were still located in the tunnel, and not at the team trucks, and the stadium did not want anyone riding bikes through the pits and back to the trucks with lightening in the area. So, mechanics had to swap into mud setups in the tunnel, not their usual pit areas.

Our Jason Weigandt was down in the tunnel working for the Peacock TV broadcast. The delays came in half-hour waves. First, the gate was cleared at about 9 pm, the delay was to hold until at least 9:30. Then it was pushed to 10 pm and then finally a decision was made that racing would begin around 10:30. Finally, at 10:15 fans were told they could return to the seats, and racing would resume at 10:25.

Everyone knows what happened next. The 250SX riders blasted through the puddle-covered track as Max Anstie went on to claim the 250SX main event win to earn his first career AMA Supercross race win. The 250cc showdown was followed by Justin Barcia claiming his first win of the season (and sixth of his career) in the premier class main event.

From what Racer X had heard after the race, the plan from Feld Motor Sports and the American Motorcyclist Association’s (AMA) side of things was that they had planned on going racing the whole time during the delay. It was just a matter of how late on Saturday night.

While it seems cliché to use the term “unprecedented,” this was really a first for everyone involved—including people who have been in the sport for decades. Of note, there was a lightning delay at the first supercross held at MetLife Stadium, in 2014. However, this delay happened between daytime practice and the night show, so few noticed. This was a very rare, maybe first-ever, delay inside the night show.

(Note: the weather break was for sure a first-time experience for Enzo Lopes. The Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha rider said back home they race in any conditions: “I never experienced that because in Brazil no matter what, we race. Lighting, tornadoes, thunderstorms…They don’t care at all,” he said with a laugh. He took full advantage and finished fifth.)

But from the second the delay began, there was no looking ahead to reschedule at a later date, location, or even at some point on Sunday afternoon. Once the stadium had communicated their plan and procedure, Feld and the AMA had to adjust their schedule. It was chaotic from all parties involved.

Anstie, the big winner on the night, had the message “Just keep swimming” from Finding Dory on the side of his bike as a part of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Love Moto Stop Cancer race. Ironically, it worked out well for the Fire Power Parts Honda Racing rider, who figuratively and literally, kept swimming through the puddles on the track en route to his first career AMA Supercross win.

In the end, the races were held safely and despite the wild, long, wet, and muddy day, everyone made the best out of it all.

Weigandt (working as a pit reporter for the NBC TV broadcast crew), our video man Tom Journet (on the ground filming all night), and I joined Kellen Brauer and Donnie “Roto Moto” Southers in a roundtable discussion to talk about the weather delay, what we saw from our respective different points of view, and the race day as a whole. Check out our full roundtable discussion below.