[motorcycle.com] - Alta Motors Defies the Odds and Makes History at the Erzberg Rodeo

[Ninjette Newsbot]

The Erzberg Rodeo is one of, if not the craziest off-road motorcycle races in the world. In fact, it’s more about survival and completing the race than it is about being the first one to cross the finish line. Although, that obviously comes with its own set of bragging rights. Of 2,000 riders, only 500 would qualify, and only 23 would actually finish… That’s not a typo, you read that right, and this year Alta threw its hat in the ring. Why? Well, because why not. They’re trying to build dirtbikes to compete with the highest-level performing gas-powered bikes, and the Erzberg Rodeo is just about the toughest course you could put any bike through. Read all about it below!

Alta:

Despite numerous challenges and setbacks, Alta Factory Racing team riders, Ty Tremaine and Lyndon Poskitt, both qualified for the main event.

Eisenerz, Austria, June 4, 2018 – Alta Motors, the leader in performance electric motorcycles, made two-wheel history as the first electric motorcycle factory race team to qualify for the Erzberg Rodeo. Ty Tremaine and Lyndon Poskitt rode the next generation of Alta’s popular off-road Redshift against gas-bike competitors. By qualifying 48th and 113th for the Erzberg Rodeo, Alta proved that its electric motorcycles are fully capable of competing at the most demanding level and qualified on the front row.

Rookie to Erzberg, Alta had a lot to learn in attempting to compete in the hardest enduro in the world. While en route to the event, one of the team’s race vans was burglarized and the culprits made off with two bikes and a significant amount of race equipment. Despite this major setback, the team stayed the course and still fielded both riders in the Prologue by sharing the two bikes originally set up for Ty. With no provision for pre-running the event, Alta’s critical first run in the Prologue qualifying event disappointed the team with an overheated motorcycle and improper gearing. Even with these adverse problems, Ty placed 43rd out of a field of 1,500 competitors on the first day. On the second, Ty and Lyndon fared much better with Ty moving up for a 35th place finish against the best hard enduro riders in the world.



Although Lyndon qualified for the main, he did not compete due to the stolen motorcycles and equipment. Unfamiliar with the starting procedure, Ty had a poor start off the line and initially trailed the pack, but quickly exploited the Alta Redshift’s performance and gained spots back, placing him amongst the top 20. But the Iron Mountain proved to be as treacherous as its reputation. With an off-course misstep during the confusing forest section and the hard charge to make up for the starting line glitch, Ty fell short of the planned battery swap site and had to retire.

“I was totally caught off guard at race start, but the Alta worked great and I made up a lot of spots quickly. The bike climbed super well and I got right back into it. I followed Paul Bolton, learned from his lines, and at one point I actually passed Graham Jarvis. The woods were the biggest surprise for me. They were super tricky and I found myself off course for a bit. I was disappointed when I ran out of power just before our planned battery swap point at Machine,” commented Ty Tremaine. “I learned a lot about the Iron Mountain and I know that I am ready for this level and so is the bike.”

“It’s disappointing that our planned battery swap strategy came up short at our first Erzberg Rodeo. We’ve learned a lot about the course and collected the required data to plan for next year’s swap strategy and optimize the software on the Alta Redshift,” said Alta Motors Chief Technical Officer and co-founder, Derek Dorresteyn. “We choose to race the hardest possible race, so we can continue to develop the most intuitive, capable motorcycle ever made. We built the Redshift to compete head-to-head with the best gas bikes in the most brutal environments. Today we did that, there is nothing but upside for electric motorcycles in professional racing.”

About Erzberg Rodeo

The flagship of World Enduro Super Series, Erzberg Rodeo is a 35 km race in the mountains of Austria where riders attempt to summit unbelievably steep hill climbs and daunting rock beds. Almost 2,000 riders attempt to qualify for 500 starting slots in the main event. Consistent with previous years’ results, only 23 competitors finished this year’s main event.

erzbergrodeo.at

About Alta Motors

Alta Motors is a global leader in lightweight electric vehicles with a proprietary mobility platform that offers new levels of power density and economics. It leads the industry with a complete portfolio of battery and drivetrain components, an existing fleet of lightweight vehicles manufactured at its world-class Brisbane, California, facility and a full customer backlog. Alta’s award-winning Redshift platform is now available to riders at over 50 U.S. dealerships across the United States. Please visit us at:

altamotors.co

Alta Motors Defies the Odds and Makes History at the Erzberg Rodeo appeared first on Motorcycle.com News.



Click here for full story...