2010 TTXGP Round 1 Results At Infineon Raceway

Shawn Higbee On The 2010 TTXGP Round 1 Winning Zero/Agni

“Anyone who thought this would not be competitive is out of thier mind!” was the announcers words after the first few laps of TTXGP at Infineon Raceway. Shawn Higbee took first place on the Zero/Agni bike after a back and forth battle with Michael Barnes of Lightning Motors. Barnes had some technical issues which caused him to slow down towards the end of the race but held on for second place. At one point he brought the bike to a stop at the end of the start/finish straight to let it cool down. Mike Hannas took third place on the Electric Race Bikes machine.

The differences between the Zero/Agni bike and the Lightning Motors caused Higbee and Barnes to swap positions multiple times in succession entering and exiting turns. Barnes on the heavier and faster accelerating Lightning Motors bike used more of a point and shoot riding style where Higbee took more sweeping turns on the lighter, slower accelerating Zero/Agni. This went on for over 5 laps until the Lightning bike started to slow.

Further back Mike Hannas on the Electric Race Bikes machine and the Thad Wolff on the Team Norton bike were running pretty close before the electric Norton dropped out of the race. The Werkstatt Racing bike had a rough start with Mavizen cutting out on Jenn Brome on the uphill after the first turn leaving her in last place. The bike came back to life and with some smart, strong riding pulled fourth place by the end of the race.

Kenyon Kludge admitted before the race he was worried about the lightly modified Zero S having the battery capacity to complete the race. He ran the K Squared Racing bike across the finish for 5th place with the electric motorcycle pits cheered him on. A very strong first electric road race showing for Zero Motorcycles.

Hats off to the Square Wave Racing team. John Wild and Sean Ewing drove from Ohio bringing humble determination and amazing enthusiasm. Despite some last minute wrenching on the electric R6, Electric Motorsport and Jason Lauritzen took 8th place.

In the end the TTXGP was more exciting than anyone expected. Azhar Hussain and the TTXGP pulled it off and held an amazing and inspirational event. The energy and camaraderie in the pits was inspirational and everyone should be proud of their place in the motorsport history books.  I am already getting excited for round 2 at Elkhart Lake, it should be just as amazing.

Infineon Raceway Round 1 TTXGP Results