Photos: Good Shoot/FIM
Just 100 yards before the finish line, Michael Czysz came from 6.6 seconds behind to overtake Lightning’s Michael Barnes and win the inaugural FIM e-Power race at Laguna Seca. It doesn’t appear that the last second pass was part of any race strategy, but rather a function of battery capacity; the 2010 MotoCzysz E1pc was still able to lap at full speed 9 laps in, while the performance of the lightning appeared to taper off dramatically. Czysz qualified in second place with a 1:47.338 lap time and told us he reached a 122mph top speed during practice, somewhat lower than the 135mph he predicted the bike would be capable of.
Update: Czysz points out that his fastest lap time in the race — 1:44.xx — was quicker than Lightning’s qualifying time and was set on the last lap. The E1pc didn’t need to be detuned to make the race distance, nor did it suffer performance degradation as the mileage added up. The bad start, which put him in third place, was due to a tripped circuit breaker that required a reset.
Czysz says: “The start was a nightmare, but the come-from-behind finish is every racer’s dream. I personally felt a lot of pressure for the race, but Laguna Seca fans must be the most supportive fans in the world, the amount of air horns blowing and fans cheering on the last lap was incredible, I was very moved.”
