Friday, January 05, 2007

Rally for motorcycles

Here's something interesting. Although motorcycles have been doing off-road events for as long as motorcycles have even existed, a true rally-format event has never been offered. Up until events have been limited to long-distance true off-road races like Baja, marathon rallies (multi-day Baja-style events), off-road enduros (which don't involve any road sections), scrambles or motocross. The concept of a series of relatively short closed stages connected by non-competitive open road sections is brand new to bikes, and will debut next month in the USA as part of the Sandblast Rally. Check out the press release here.

I think that this is a very positive thing. Any dialogue between 4-wheel and 2-wheel sports is always great to see, and additional opportunities for bike competition is cool too.

Some points of interest:

  • Bikes will need to be street legal, unlike most desert racers
  • Competitors will start in pairs
  • Sidecar teams will be allowed
  • We can expect up to six RallyMoto events in 2007
I'm going dirtbiking for the first time next week. And I've done a lot of rallying. Hmmmm......

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