Race Report - eMotoRacing at Sonoma

Sonoma Raceway is not only a beautiful track, it holds a special place in electric motorcycle history as the first venue in the US to host an electric motorcycle race, the TTXGP in 2010! Last week we returned to Sonoma for the eMotoRacing event with AHRMA, and it proved to be some of the most exciting electric motorcycle racing too date!

At the race was Gene Sigal on the Zero SR, Bobby Loo on his Zero FX, and Pete Nicolosi, Bob Berbeco and Murrae Haynes all on Brammo Empulse Rs.

We were short one racer on Thursday as Murrae was having some mechanical problems with his gas bike and instead decided to volunteer his time as a corner worker. This left only Gene, Bobby, Pete and Bob. Gene had a good start and initially took the lead, but for the rest of the race, he and Pete traded off for the lead. Watch Gene get the holeshot!

In the first few laps, traffic from the other classes created quite a few obstacles. Pete is very comfortable in traffic and Gene was managing it well, albeit a little more cautiously. In lap 5, there was a tense moment at the end of the back straight in turn 9a where the chicane slows traffic down and Pete tried to take this opportunity to pass Gene on the outside. As Gene came into the corner with Pete on his outside, I nervously watched as they both bumped elbows but luckily both riders managed to keep the rubber side down. Not long thereafter, Bob came into the corner a bit too hot and laid his bike down ending the race for him but. Bobby finished the race strong on his Zero FX but still lacking a little on the top end to stay competitive with the bigger bikes.

Race Results - Thursday

Friday's race had the full grid of five riders with Murrae rejoining the group and Bob having been able to gather up the parts to repair his bike. Gene again took the lead and maintained the lead for most of the race, but Pete was hot on his tail with Bob, Murrae and Bobby comfortably behind. Although Gene was able to gap Pete in the straightaways, heavy traffic and late braking are Pete's forté making it difficult for Gene to maintain that gap for too long. As the group made their way around the track one last time still battling traffic, Pete saw the opportunity to pass Gene and took it. He crossed the finish line ahead of just ahead of Gene to take the win.

Race Results - Friday

This ended our fun week of racing. There was some intense competition and it was great catching up with the rest of the racers. We're hoping to make it to a few more eMotoRacing events before the year is over. Stay tuned!