MotoCzysz races with OMRRA at Portland International Raceway

In a race pitting the MotoCzysz E1PC electric superbike against gas powered race motorcycles, MotoCzysz ran great until having to bow out possibly due to a shredded rain tire. The race was held the weekend of Sept 17-18 at Portland International Raceway during round 6 of the OMRRA Championship race series.

The race occurred in the “Middleweight Superbike” class. They pitted the E1PC against Suzuki SV650’s and Kawasaki EX650’s. These bikes are frequently used in AMA Superbike racing by pro racers.

The event was held in rainy conditions (hey, it’s Portland). The E1PC proved itself safe in the rain, and proved itself a worthy adversary of gas-powered superbikes. Michael Czysz was riding and “started from the pit lane behind the entire grid”. He passed half of the pack before hitting turn one, and passed the remainder of the pack on the long straight at the end of the first lap. He then just kept on going. He “went faster than every 600cc and 750cc machine supersport or superbike that entire weekend” and “turned a faster lap than all but three 1,000 cc machines”. Over the next seven laps he made a 30 second gap over the gas-powered bikes.

Unfortunately in lap 8 the bike pulled out for a variety of reasons including shredded rain tires. The quotes above are from e-mail correspondence with Michael Czysz.

He shared these thoughts

It was good fun, I do like riding in the rain but to be honest, riding an elec. in the rain is pretty stressful, especially at this stage in their development.

I can tell you racing the ICE bikes, even at club level was way more exciting for the observers than a full electric race ever could be. I think this is the natural transition. People were interested, excited and impressed.

OMRRA is the Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association.

A message from Motoczysz (OMRRA Forums)

JQ,

I wanted to pass on a heartfelt thanks to the entire OMRRA organization and family, including the corner workers, the commentators and especially the Middleweight Superbike racers.

Last weekend was a return to our roots- OMRRA was where I started racing and were I started cultivating the thoughts and ideas that are MotoCzysz.

Sunday was all too familiar, constant changing weather and (7) tire changes later we still did not have it right but what was right, was the venue. This year OMRRA lead the Nation by adding an electric motorcycle class to their road racing program. Either a product of forward thinking or green sensibilities or just to keep Portland weird, OMRRA was first, then waited. I don’t think anyone expected anything too exciting to come from this class for years, if ever.

Last weekend, MotoCzysz brought to OMRRA for the first time, an electric grand prix machine. The goal was to not embarrass ourselves amongst all the internal combustion race bikes and let down those who pioneered the class, the dream was to push hard, race and go fast.

I and the entire MotoCzysz team want to thank the Middleweight Superbike grid and the club overall for their support and hospitality. Let’s see who next follows OMRRA.

It is great to be a licensed OMRRA racer again.

Best,Michael CzyszOMRRA #11X

Source:

Rain complicates round six of OMRRA Championship at Portland International Raceway

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About David Herron

David Herron is a writer and software engineer living in Silicon Valley. He primarily writes about electric vehicles, clean energy systems, climate change, peak oil and related issues. When not writing he indulges in software projects and is sometimes employed as a software engineer. David has written for sites like PlugInCars and TorqueNews, and worked for companies like Sun Microsystems and Yahoo.