Victory riders Don Canet & Jeremy Toye win their respective classes in the 100th anniversary of the Race to the Clouds
Showcasing its Modern American Muscle powered both by gas and electric motors, Victory Racing’s® electric Empulse® RR ridden by Road Test Editor Don Canet and gas-powered Project 156™ piloted by Jeremy Toye accelerated away from the competition to win their respective classes at the 2016 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) and take second and third overall.
In the overall PPIHC motorcycle competition, Canet and the Empulse RR placed 2nd while Toye and Project 156 placed 3rd, both closely following veteran racer Corsican Bruno Langlois and his Kawasaki Z 1000 who benefitted from a dryer and warmer course later in the morning due to a series of red flags.
Canet and his Empulse RR clocked a time of 10:17.813 with an average speed of 112.49 kph through the 156-turn course that takes racers from 2,862 meters above sea level to the mountain’s summit of 4,302 meters above sea level. The 19.99-kilometre course is split into four sections. Canet zipped through the flowing section #1 in 1:50.531, steep section #2 in
2:26.924, technical section #3 in 2:53.568 and longer, high elevation section #4 in 3:06.790.
Toye rode Project 156 to the Pikes Peak summit in a time of 10.19.777 with an average speed of 112.17 kph. He and his Project 156 bellowed through section #1 in 1:52.520, section #2 in 2:27.213, section #3 in 2:53.375 and section #4 in 3:06.669.
“I think it’s a great month for Victory Motorcycles!” says Brian Wismann, Victory Racing Team Manager. “Imagine our brand first taking on the world’s best at the Isle of Man and achieving a podium there, then a couple of weeks later taking on the other epic race on the planet here at Pikes Peak and putting two bikes on the podium – one gas and one electric. I’d just like to really thank all of our sponsors in helping us race these bikes to the clouds in such a stellar way. Victory Motorcycles puts out a great team. I just want to let everyone know that everything we do at Isle of Man and everything we do at Pikes Peak makes it into our production bikes and that is why we race.”
Victory Motorcycles was the only brand at this year’s PPIHC to race both electric and gas-powered race vehicles.
A race-prepped version of the Victory Empulse TT, the Victory Empulse RR contended Pikes Peak to build upon the legacy of the motorcycle that took 3rd Place in last year’s SES TT Zero Challenge on the Isle of Man with rider Lee Johnston. It is a completely different bike than the Victory RR that achieved a 2nd Place podium finish with William Dunlop at this year’s recent Isle of Man competition.
