AMA and Electric Motorcycles in AMA races

[Beagle]

Hold the press, there was actually ONE Varg racing in the US sprint enduro series!

Since the AMA won't approve supplemental rules mixing electrics with ICE anymore, the organizers created the Pro Electric class.

Trevor Jones is running away with the championship, someone should give him a run for his money!

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https://ussprintenduro.com/

Trevor Jones is still killing it in USSE Pro E with another outstanding win in round 2
At least this time there were another couple of Varg around, in amateur electrics.
Overall 65th over almost 300 riders.

 

[racer726]

But at the same time, the AMA allows kids on 50 size ebikes to ride in the 50 open class with gas bikes. It does not make much sense.

 

[Beagle]

Stark Future on Instagram: "Lots of anticipation for the @arenacrossuk finale ahead after a mixed last round we are up for championship battle - heading into it with the red plate🐺 #starkfuture #starkvarg"

6,335 likes, 34 comments - stark__future on February 6, 2024: "Lots of anticipation for the @arenacrossuk finale ahead after a mixed last round we are up for championship battle - heading into it with the red plate🐺 #starkfuture #starkvarg".

www.instagram.com

 

[Beagle]

Taddy Blazusiak on Instagram: "We are going racing this weekend 🔥😈🐺 Round 2 Spanish Hard Enduro Championship In Cantoria here we come @enduro_cantoria @rfme_oficial @stark__future @111racingcom @redbullpolska @ircmoto @kythelmet @sidisport_offi

3,427 likes, 22 comments - taddyblazusiak on February 7, 2024: "We are going racing this weekend 🔥😈🐺 Round 2 Spanish Hard Enduro Championship In Cantoria here we come @enduro_cantoria @rfme_oficial @stark__future @111racingcom @redbullpolska @ircmoto @kythelmet @sidisport_official...

www.instagram.com

 

[Johnny Depp]

GNCC has created a new class for e-bikes in the 2 hour morning session. Late announcement. 53” minimum wheelbase? Were they already allowed in other Open classes?

 

[Beagle]

Taddy B just finished 7th in hard enduro Spain championship round 2.
Nothing to write home about... except it was a 3 h race, he finished it in 3h40min!
Not sure how they did it, did it include pit stops to switch bikes or battery or charge the bike?

We should know a bit more about this in a few days.

Got 3rd at straight rhythm on Saturday

 

[mike61]

Spanish officials are smart enough to support a Spanish motobike factory.
Congrats.
But I'm sure they hat to promise:
- no shortcuts
- no sparks
- no fire
- no more than one explosion

5 minutes: Taddy Blazusiak talks Stark in Hard Enduro – “We finished and we learned a lot”

Taddy Blazusiak and Stark made the bold step to go racing in a Spanish Hard Enduro race, lining up alongside Mario Roman and championship regulars to test the Varg in real enduro conditions. The aim was “to learn and to improve”, Taddy explains to Enduro21…

enduro21.com

 

[Beagle]

1 pit stop to change battery after 2 laps so we can get 2 things from that:
- the battery can last 90 min with Taddy B racing hard enduro at great pace (4th place after 2 laps)
- Stark must be considering quick swap batteries for the Enduro version or maybe Varg 2.0. Quite likely they will try to engineer faster battery swaps for Taddy already this year.

Now if Taddy can race 90 min I can't see why mere mortals would not get 120 min range (on the same course).

 

[Beagle]

Did you know the Varg beat Honda CR-E prototype in their first competition?

Unfortunately it's happening in FIM explorer world cup which is poorly promoted, you won't find any useful info on their website but some bits on Instagram

E-Xplorer on Instagram: "Round 1 is Osaka was a blast!💥 Congratulations to the winner in male rider category @jorgezaragoza99 racing for @robbiemaddisonracing #racingupgraded #electricracing #electricbike"

39 likes, 2 comments - fimexplorer on February 17, 2024: "Round 1 is Osaka was a blast!💥 Congratulations to the winner in male rider category @jorgeza..."

www.instagram.com

For me this was the most interesting picture coming from this event

 

[Beagle]

Taddy was racing Spain national enduro Basella round (huge Enduro event with over 1000 riders), finished 7th over 40 riders in the pro Xtrem race.

Organizadores de Eventos y experiencias de conducción on Instagram: "Hell yeah ❤️"

567 likes, 2 comments - bassellaexperiences on February 17, 2024: "Hell yeah ❤️".

www.instagram.com

Here is some onboard footage from Marc Riba who finished 6th

 

[Matt]

1 pit stop to change battery after 2 laps so we can get 2 things from that:
- the battery can last 90 min with Taddy B racing hard enduro at great pace (4th place after 2 laps)
- Stark must be considering quick swap batteries for the Enduro version or maybe Varg 2.0. Quite likely they will try to engineer faster battery swaps for Taddy already this year.

Now if Taddy can race 90 min I can't see why mere mortals would not get 120 min range (on the same course).

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I wonder if they are opening up the battery voltage range a bit for their race bikes. I know Alta did this. Not sure how much more range this would add.

 

[Beagle]

Two Varg riders raced GNCC last weekend, one did 3 laps in 2h13min, the other did 2 full laps much faster, then the bike died on him one mile from the end of the 3rd lap.

You definitely need to pace yourself for 1h30-2h races, and obviously range will vary considerably depending on rider style, skills, and speed.

 

[Beagle]

Stark just won the Arenacross UK championship with Jack Brunell, also won in the team standings.

Great achievement to compete immediately against 450s, lots of regularity as well with 4 different Stark riders stepping on the podium across the season and putting one Stark rider on the podium at every round except for one.

This summer we will see what Bogle and Zaragoza can do against the best European SX riders in France SX tour.

 

[DonCox]

Interesting video, I came across. It is Matt Burkeen, son of the AMA official mentioned at the beginning, test riding the Stark Varq. His dad, Mike Burkeen, is actually there watching him ride, and waving at his son in the car on the way out there. I think it might be good for Electric bikes that he was so excited after riding it.
He went on and won the E-Open class at the Vintage Race day at Daytona on Tuesday March 5. Enjoy the YouTube.

 

[Philip]

Below is the Open-E class race at Daytona that Don just mentioned. There were only 3 entrants. Their two 10-minute races start at the 40-minute mark and at the 4h 5min mark.

The track looks so much fun!!! I wish I could also enter and race there! Maybe one year I will.

 

[DonCox]

There are 2 motos for the E-Open in the YouTube . At the 40 minute mark, and at the 4 hour and 10 minute mark

 

[Johnny Depp]

Interesting video, I came across. It is Matt Burkeen, son of the AMA official mentioned at the beginning, test riding the Stark Varq. His dad, Mike Burkeen, is actually there watching him ride, and waving at his son in the car on the way out there. I think it might be good for Electric bikes that he was so excited after riding it.
He went on and won the E-Open class at the Vintage Race day at Daytona on Tuesday March 5. Enjoy the YouTube.

Just came here to post this. Not mentioned by name, but also present were Anton Wass (first US visit?) and Eric Perronard, famed promoter. I'd imaging that if the AMA doesn't want to play ball, Stark and Eric would team up for a new series...

 

[mike61]

FIM for MX GP published that it could be possible to get ready with rules in 2026.

 

[Johnny Depp]

Yeh, it's happening. The dam has broken, even if it's slowly. Honda is obviously onboard.
We already know that Mike Prater with Feld has said it's happening in SX with a separate class, but he didn't say when.

 

[Beagle]

Yep separate support class for 5-6 rounds is the plan for MXGP at the moment.