TTXGP hit American soil here at Infineon Raceway today, with two zero-emission practice sessions under its belt for the day. Although dubbed an historic moment, today’s big winner probably wasn’t the sport of electric motorcycle racing, despite ZeroAgni put on a strong performance during the practice sessions. At the helm of the ZeroAgni bike was AMA privateer Shawn Higbee, who looked the part on the former Team Agni Isle of Man bike. Higbee was carrying tons of corner speed, and was the only electric sportbike rider to lap the course at near sportbike speed, and to really go the distance lap-wise.
Other top-mentions were the K² and Lightning bikes, which looked good, but weren’t going to to give the gasoline powered bikes a run for their money any time soon. The Lightning bike looked especially strong out of the corners and down the straight, showing lot’s of power, but corner entries were certainly lacking any grace.
The lack of competition amongst the competitors could be both a mixture of rider skill and bike design, as some riders could noticeably be seen chopping the throttle into turns, and not carrying their speed through the apex. Make no mistake though, there was definitely a disparity in performance between the competitors.
We were expecting a better showing from the Mavizen of Werkstatt Racing, but the team suffered a setback in the first session when their bike suffered an electrical failure, likely a faulty connection. Although they were able to ride the second session, we didn’t see the red Mavizen finish more than a couple laps.
More tomorrow as TTXGP continues at Infineon Raceway.
ZeroAgni & Shawn Higbee During TTXGP Practice:
K² During TTXGP Practice:
Photos: © 2010 Jensen Beeler / Asphalt & Rubber – Creative Commons 3.0
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