The people behind the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb have announced there will be no motorcycle racing at the 2020 event.
The news follows the shocking death of Carlin Dunne at the 2019 event. Dunne was en route to setting a new course record when he crashed close to the finish line, dying from his injuries.
While motorcycles have competed at Pikes Peak ever since the first race in 1916, they have not been present every year. In recent years, motorcycle speeds have risen at Pikes Peak, and there’s been chatter for a while that they might be banned.
However, the organizers have not actually announced an all-out ban on two-wheeled racing. Rather, they’ve basically said they want to see what happens to the event next year if motorcycles aren’t present. Considering the race revolves around cars, the outcome is hard to predict, but no doubt some will be happy to see Pikes Peak ban bikes, due to the added danger they face.
Not that there’s any shortage of any danger on the Pikes Peak course, even for cars, as the sheer drop-offs in some stretches are fatal no matter what vehicle you’re in. There has been more fuss about the event’s safety protocols in recent years, so maybe motorcycles will be back in the future if those can be addressed. Pikes Peak officials certainly didn’t close the door to that possibility.
An all out ban is very reactionary. As far as I know the only real restriction is the bike must be from production and have handlebars. Perhaps limiting cc’s or horsepower would be sufficient.
I think it’s telling that one of KTM’s fast guys, a previous winner, took the hill on a 450 this year, instead of a full-bore streetbike.
Shame the Pikes Peak organisers can’t have the same attitude as the Isle of Man TT organisers. Motorcycle racing, and especially on public road circuits, is inherently ‘dangerous’ and death is always within a blink of an eye’s distance. Many deaths during the TT’s long history and yet, correctly, the TT races continue to exist and continue to grow in popularity both with fans and with the participants. The brave participants know and accept the inherent dangers…too bad the Pikes Peak organisers seem to be back tracking on this fact.
The Isle of Man is not populated with the the slime-toothed american lawyer shark.