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A Kawasaki Z1000 took the overall win, though

Electric beats petrol in Victory’s Pikes Peak battle

Written by Ben Purvis , Date 10:24 AM
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Canet on the Empulse RR

Victory’s electric Empulse RR racer edged its petrol powered Project 156 sibling during last weekend’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb but overall victory in the two-wheeled class went to a Kawasaki Z1000.

Don Canet on the Empulse RR that recently took a podium at the Isle of Man TT was the second fastest bike overall, winning the electric class with a time of 10:17.813. Former winner Jeremy Toye, riding the 1200cc Project 156 V-twin, was less than two seconds slower at 10:19.777. He finished third overall and won the ‘Exhibition Powersport’ bikes class.

However, the overall winner in the motorcycle category was Bruno Langlois, riding a Kawasaki Z1000  in the Pikes Peak Heavyweight class. He managed a time of 10:13.106, meaning this year nobody on two wheels managed to trouble the overall record time, which remains below the 10 minute mark.

Fourth overall and second in the Heavyweight class was Cycle News writer and Pikes Peak rookie Rennie Scaysbrook, who’d qualified in first position on Friday on his KTM 1290R Super Duke. A similar KTM ridden by Shane Scott was fifth overall and third in the class.

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Toye’s Project 156 was less than two seconds slower

Prior to the race, Victory bosses had tipped the Empulse RR as being hard to beat. The electric bike doesn’t lose power in the thinner air at the top of the mountain like the petrol-powered machines. Since Canet managed to go second fastest overall during qualifying, which takes place on the bottom third of the climb, and was faster than anyone else during practice sessions on the top two sectors, it seemed the Empulse RR could have beaten all the petrol machines.

On four wheels, the event’s winner was Swiss driver Romain Dumas, on a roll just days after he won the Le Mans 24 Hours. As in the two-wheeled classes, his petrol-powered Norma racer was closely followed by an electric rival, Rhys Millen in an ‘eO’ prototype racer, just seconds behind on overall time. Notably, three of the top five cars at the event were electric.

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