Pikes Peak 2018 Is Underway
Rennie Scaysbrook | June 11, 2018
Pikes Peak 2018 Is Underway–We’ve just got back into the office following the two-day tire test for the 2018 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Pikes Peak 2018 Is Underway
This year has been somewhat chaotic after Rennie originally agreed to ride the Spanish Bottpower machine in the Exhibition class. However, that deal fell through at the end of April, and now Rennie is back on the KTM 1290 Super Duke R. This is the same bike he raced to second place behind Chris Fillmore in 2017.
We have switched to Dymag carbon-fiber wheels for this year, hoping to shed a bot of unsprung weight to make the Super Duke a bit more agile in the tight corners but also help acceleration and braking performance. Beautiful as they are, they became a source of frustration on day one as Rennie and the team tried to adapt the suspension to the less rotating mass of the Dymags.
Day one across the top of the mountain was a disaster, but after going back to a neutral setting at the end of the day, we started to see some light at the end of the tunnel for the second day.
Rennie finished the day second to Carlin Dunne on the new Ducati Multistrada MTS1260 Pikes Peak and will be looking for more come race week, which begins on Monday, June 18.
The 2018 race will also see record holder Chris Fillmore back in action. This time he’s on the brand new 790 Duke in the middleweight class. Fillmore is hoping to take the class record but is also in contention for the overall win on the 790. His speed was excellent in the two-day test. He finished day one in second, and third overall on day two.
We will have lots of updates for you in the coming days on this year’s race at Cyclenews.com and on our YouTube channel.
To watch our Cliff Racer II video from last year’s event, go here
Official Pikes Peak International site can be found here
