Motorcycling New Zealand, the governing body for competitive motorcycle sport in NZ, has finally confirmed what alert level 2 means for Kiwi riders, and it's not bright news.
Making the announcement via the organisation's Facebook page – now the main source of information from Motorcycling New Zealand – MNZ said that restrictions under alert level 2 mean that our sports riders will have to wait until the end of the month at the earliest to hit the track in anger.
"With the country now in Alert Level 2, there have been a number of questions around when we can get back to club days and racing, the Motorcycling New Zealand said.
"Sport NZ has confirmed that the 10 person gathering limit applies to community sport. For MNZ, this means that the combined number of riders, support crew and officials at an event or meeting must not exceed 10. Appropriate physical distancing guidelines must also be observed.
The 10-person maximum effectively rules out any resumption of motorcycle sport at this point.
Sport NZ has indicated that competitions may be able to commence from around 30 May, however, this depends on the continued containment of COVID-19 and the advice of the Director-General of Health. For the moment, we would suggest using this time to get ready for the resumption of racing.
Clubs will need to ensure they have adequate safety protocols in place, including contact tracing, measures to ensure physical distancing and increased hygiene practices (availability of hand sanitiser, increased cleaning of high-touch areas in club rooms etc).
Riders can be preparing their machines and gear and thinking about measures you can take to safeguard your own health and that of your fellow competitors – (adding hand sanitiser, gloves, etc to your kits).
Please continue to be patient – we will get back on track and, once we do, we want to be able to keep racing without fear of going back into lockdown.
While competitive series are still on hold, many organisations such as Epic Events and Forest Trail Events are gearing up for their respective trail ride seasons to kick off in earnest in next month.