The Victory Racing team encountered a major setback after crashing their #Project156 bike in practice at Pikes Peak, but after a few days of assessing the damage and working on the bike, they say they’re still planning to race this upcoming weekend.
At first, when details came out of the crash about a week ago, it sounded as if the whole idea might be a write-off; Victory had spent a lot of money and energy getting their prototype racer to Pikes Peak, but after Don Canet (editor at Cycle World) put the machine in the weeds, it initially appeared there wasn’t much left to work with.
However, after going over the damage, Victory and #Project156 designer Roland Sands say they still plan to rebuild the bike, despite its twisted frame and general state of disrepair. If anyone can restore a mangled machine to health, it should be the crew at Roland Sands Design, seeing as they built the frame to start with.
““Project 156 is really beat up,” said Cameron Brewer, who’s heading up the project at Roland Sands Design. “But we are racers at heart and I can promise Victory Motorcycles, Cycle World, RSD and Pikes Peak fans that we will rebuild the bike. She took one hell of a hit, but we are committed to the program.”
The the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb is just around the corner – the team is running out of time. Canet crashed the bike as the crew was working out handling tweaks, saying he lost the front end under braking because “asphalt temperature was extremely low and, counter intuitively, I think the tire was getting colder as the run went on.” Weird as it sounds, that sort of thing can happen at Pikes Peak, due to the changing atmosphere as racers run up the mountain.
At this point, it’s likely the crew will work ’round the clock to put the bike back together. However, without as much time to pre-run, it’s likely their race day results won’t be as optimal as they would have been without the crash.
You can see Canet’s crash below, and the mangled bike. Hopefully, they’re able to overcome the adversity and put together some good runs on the hill; it would be a step in the right direction for the American motorcycle industry.
