PIKES PEAK: Practice Session Day Three

Our return to the Upper Section for Thursday morning’s Pikes Peak practice proved a successful effort for the Victory Racing Thunder vs. Lightning duo. Clear skies greeted my teammate Jeremy Toye and I as we put in four timed runs from Devil’s Playground to the mountain’s 14,114-foot summit.

I gained confidence and speed aboard the Victory Empulse RR e-racer with each pass through what is the bumpiest section of the 12.42-mile,156-turn course. A unique and challenging aspect of racing Pikes is that we will not run the course in its entirety prior to this Sunday's Race to the Clouds.

My crew was super stoked today as we ended the session with a best run of 2:42.19 to head the field with Kawasaki Z1000-mounted pilot Bruno Langlois at 2:44.57, and Toye third quickest with a 2:47.67 aboard the Victory Project 156 V-twin. "I feel very blessed to be a part of this 100th Anniversary of the PPIHC." Enthused chief mechanic Richie Tatum. "This week has gone well for this Victory race team. Hopefully we can keep the Empulse RR at the top of the charts on race day."

Before that can happen we must first get through qualifying which takes place Friday on the bottom section of the course. It will be very interesting to see how my electric racer fares against the gas powered competition at lower elevation.