When we told you about the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge last summer, we also said there was a lot of controversy over the race.
Well, now there’s a lot more.
The controversy over the Challenge, a 14,000-mile route that crossed 48 states and two provinces this year, started when two riders died in the original event. Some critics said the Challenge amounted to an illegal road race, even though organizers say it’s simply an endurance competition.
Now, Cyril Huze’s blog is telling us that Will Barclay, who won the race for the second time in a row this year, won’t be getting his $250,000 prize. Comments on Huze’s blog say that Barclay refused to take a polygraph test as requested by race organizers, and has been banned from future events.
According to Huze, the next top 11 finishers traveled to Arizona, where they thought they’d receive their payout. When they got there, race organizer Jim Durham supposedly told them they were all disqualified after he’d gone over their GPS records and determined that they’d exceeded the speed limit during the challenge, one of the race’s many no-nos.
After some negotiation, organizers supposedly gave the riders $10,000 apiece to cover their expenses, which still falls far short of the promised prize money – they were supposed to split $250,000.
Add to this the fact that riders were supposedly given faulty directions, and organizers did not pre-ride the route, as they claimed, and things don’t look good for the Challenge. Some critics are crying foul, saying the whole event was a scam in the first place. Will there be a 2012 edition? We’ll keep you posted.
What is the $10,000 if not prize money? Hush money?
Sounds like a Hokey challenge allright!