Electric Cycle Rider has officially partnered with Red Bull Tennessee Knockout to create “ECR eMoto”, the first-ever electric-only class for the TKO hard enduro competition.
It’s with borderline unhealthy levels of excitement and pleasure that we announce we’ve teamed up with the folks at Red Bull TKO to spearhead the first-ever all-electric class for North America’s premier hard enduro event. The event takes place August 14-16, 2022 at the Sesquatchie Trials Training center in Sequatchie Tennessee, and registration will be open to riders of all skill levels and backgrounds (so long as they’re at least 16 years old and hold a current AMA membership).
That’s exciting news both for our team here at ECR and the electric motorcycle community at large, but it gets even better: ECR eMoto class is open format, which means any production motorcycle (regardless of power level) is allowed to compete, so long as its rear-wheel size meets the minimum requirement of 16 inches. Oh, and that’s not even the best part:
ECR eMoto is allowed up to 20 entries, all of whom will compete on a roughly 14-mile course Saturday morning directly following the last wave of amateur riders. That means we’ve got a unique opportunity (if not an outright responsibility) to show the world what these electric machines are capable of by passing as many gas-powered riders as possible.
The winner of this single race will be crowned the 2022 ECR eMoto champion, but the fun doesn’t end there: Any ECR eMoto riders who manage to finish the course within the regulation 2.5 hour time limit will be eligible to compete in the TKO Amateur class race on Saturday afternoon.
Competitors will have to compete using the same motorcycle from the morning (so you’ll either want to make a mad dash for the charger or bring a spare battery), but it’s entirely possible we could see an electric bike on the podium this year. So if you’re reading this and you’ve got the skills, come ride with us! Tucker will be competing in the event himself, so if you want the “I beat the ECR guy from Youtube” bragging rights, now’s your chance. Registration opens on (TKTK date & time & link), so don’t delay!
“The interest in electric motorcycles is growing around the world and we want to showcase the capabilities of
-Eric Peronnard, co-producer of Red Bull Tennessee Knockout and co-founder of FIM E-Xplorer
the latest versions from several manufacturers at the premier Hard Enduro event in North America.”
A Brief History Of The Red Bull Tennessee Knockout (TKO)
The Tennessee Knockout first took place in 2011 and has been hosted at the Trials Training Center in
Sequatchie, Tennessee every year since then. The TKO is one of the premier off-road motorcycle races in the
US, attracting the top American and International riders.
For 2021, the event became part of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship (HEWC). Tennessee Native Mike Brown won the first two events in 2011 and 2012 with Californian Cody Webb close behind both times. Webb then went on a six-year run of winning TKO, topping many of the best riders in the world in the process. Jonny Walker, Graham Jarvis, Wade Young, Mario Roman and Manuel Lettenbichler all challenged Webb but the American was unbeatable.
A knee injury forced Webb to miss the 2019 TKO and Germany’s Lettenbichler became the first international rider to win the event. In 2020, Canadian Trystan Hart broke through for a win over Webb. In 2021, the UK’s Billy Bolt edged out Lettenbichler for the win and Hart rounded out the podium in front of the best Hard Enduro riders in the world.
