Stefano Mesa (Energica) in the lead during the last race at Laguna Seca
MotoAmerica will become the first national championship that will face, on the same track, gasoline motorcycles versus electric motorcycles. The North American speed championship already carried out a small experiment in 2022, on the occasion of the Laguna Seca round of the Mission Super Hooligan category, welcoming two riders on electric motorcycles.
One of them was Kenyon Kluge, an engineer at Zero Motorcycles, a Californian firm specializing in the manufacture of electric motorcycles; Logically, Kluge raced with a naked from his company, an SR / F with which he managed to qualify 19th on the grid (out of a total of 30 bikes), finishing the race in 21st place.
The second adventurer who raced in Laguna Seca with a 100% electric motorcycle was Stefano Mesa. The Italian joined the ranks of the Tytlers Cycle -where Héctor Barbera also competed in the Superbike category- on the handlebars of an Energica EVA Ribelle RS, a naked version of the well-known Energica EGO Corsa -the motorcycle used in the MotoE World Championship until the arrival of Ducati – which offers performance of 171 hp of power and a weight of 260 kilos.
With a stock bike that had just had the lights removed and slicks mounted, Mesa made a big impression in the qualifying session by finishing eighth, falling 5.7 seconds behind pole sitter Tyler O’Hara’s Indian FTR 1200. In the race, the Italian driver surprised his rivals by placing first as soon as the Laguna Seca traffic light went out, taking advantage of the lightning-fast acceleration of his electric naked.
The joy was short-lived for Mesa, who soon found himself surpassed by the Indian FTR 1200, KTM Duke 890 Duke and Ducati Monster of his rivals, crossing the finish line eight laps later in 13th positionone minute behind the winner O’Hara.
You can watch the race here:
Both Stefano Mesa and Tytlers Cycle Racing were happy with the experience, so that, for this 2023, the North American team has announced its alliance with the electric motorcycle manufacturer Energica to contest the four rounds of MotoAmerica’s Mission Super Hooligan category with the same bike, the Energica EVA Ribelle RS, although this time with a higher level of preparation and development.
“I’m super excited to be riding the Energica Eva Ribelle for Tytlers Cycle Racing”Mesa said after learning that he will once again face a grid full of combustion motorcycles. “I’m really looking forward to competing in all four rounds with all the gassers out there. Last year we did a little test run with a stock bike at Laguna Seca, and it definitely did not disappoint. With very little testing, we went into that race weekend not knowing what the result would be. The whole team was very pleased with how things turned out, so this year they decided to try it and do it again with a more race-ready bike.”
The first appointment will be in Daytona, the weekend of March 11 and 12, a race that “it will be a challenge” according to Stefano “Given the track layout and complete lack of references, but the team and I are happy and up for the challenge. We’re excited to see what we can do with more seat time.”
Read also: Benda Dark Flag 500: a cruiser with a V4 engine and air suspension
In addition to Daytona, MotoAmerica’s Mission Super Hooligan class also has three more races scheduled at The Ridge (June 23-25), Laguna Seca (July 7-9) and Circuit of the Americas (September 8-10). ), with tests scheduled for a maximum of 7 or 8 laps. In this category they can compete two-cylinder naked motorcycles with a displacement of at least 750 cc, four times and no more than 125 hp in its original configuration. In the case of electric motorcycles, they can only equip a single motor and must use liquid cooling in the batteries.