The 2021 Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials (BMST) competition will run August 28 through September 2 at the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway in northwest Utah. This announcement comes with the news the 2020 BMST meeting will not be run. “The heartbreaking actualities of the COVID-19 pandemic leaves us no other choice but to cancel the 2020 Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials, an annual FIM World Records and AMA Grand Championship event,” organizers said in a statement at BonnevilleSpeedTrials.com. BMST had been hoping to run the 2020 races, with registration set to begin on May 15.
“In partnership with the American Motorcyclist Association and the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, we’ve already been developing and implementing dynamic improvements to ensure the future of our sport for generations to come. With the extra time that this postponement affords, we plan to do more to make the 2021 BMST, August 28 through September 2, even more exciting and memorable. Our goal in the year ahead is to expand and build the Land Speed Racing community through commitment, focus, and creativity. Amidst this crisis, we feel energized to develop and roll out new programs and resources in the coming weeks and months.” according to the organizers’ statement.
BMST owner/operator Delvene Reber stated, “We will be working hard for next year’s event, and we will stay connected along the way to ensure that we all get our prescribed dose of salt to carry us forward up to and through 2021. We may not be able to race this year, but we still have our racing family.”
“All income, from registration fees, merchandise sales, and sponsorship, is used directly to defray the costs associated with producing the premier Motorcycle Land Speed Racing event,” the organizers noted. “From ownership on down, BMST is 100 percent volunteer-run, by a crew of phenomenal fans who devote their own time and resources to make it a roaring success. We still have significant financial expenditures to make throughout 2020 and into 2021. BMST has to replace and upgrade large equipment, including trailers and radio communications. We cannot do this without your help to make 2021 a year for the history books.”
Racing began at Bonneville in 1914. Countless world records have been set, though racing has not been uninterrupted. As Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway is a natural terrain course, the quality of the salt surface is not always adequate for competition. In 2019, 50 AMA national records and 10 FIM world records were set at BMST, including the first sit-on electric motorcycle to break the 200 mph barrier.