Well, the inaugural 2022 Red Bull Tennessee Knockout (TKO) ECR eMoto hard enduro race is officially in the books, and we couldn’t have imagined such a successful outcome. Riders and teams traveled thousands of miles from all across the country to test their mettle against one of the most punishing courses in the sport, and the results were nothing short of phenomenal. If ever there were any doubt that these machines could stand up to the rigors of professional racing, those doubts have been summarily dismissed, and we’re confident the competition will only heat up from here.
Out of the 24 riders who competed in the 2022 TKO ECR eMoto race, 17 of them were able to conquer the course. The conditions at TKO are the kind of challenge you’ll find nowhere else in the sport, and the punishing heat and humidity combined with some of the slipperiest, rockiest terrain imaginable is just the kind of trial-by-fire we were hoping for.
Honestly we would be beyond stoked to simply have so many riders show up and finish Saturday’s amateur class race, but the good news doesn’t stop there. The ECR eMoto class of electric-only bikes not only finished but actually landed two competitors in the top 5 overall in race one competing with the most capable gas bikes of the day.
Sam Bird took top honors in that regard, riding a bone-stock Electric Motion Escape R to 3rd place overall with a best lap of 53:32, just a minute and two seconds behind second-place finisher Luis Jaquez. Sam was followed closely by Jojo Toole riding a prototype Yamaha YZ electric conversion built by X-EMX with a fourth place overall finish at 54:47. We’ve also got to hand it to Jojo for being the only rider to compete and finish in Saturday’s race two, and also for landing in the top 50 finishers with a 1:42:07 final finishing time.
Solid finishing times were also posted by a variety of other riders, bikes, and builds, so if any of you were curious as to whether or not your own bikes could tackle terrain this challenging, the answer is an emphatic “yes.” We shared rocky creek beds, muddy hill climbs, and grassy fields with a host of Sur Rons, Segways, Talarias, and Cakes. There’s nothing quite like seeing these bikes pushed to their limits, and if you’ve ever been to a hard enduro event before, you’ll know there’s something to be said for being able to hear every bashed skid plate, scraped peg, and four-letter word coming out of a group of racers. Electric enduro was a raging success, and it’s absolutely here to stay.
Crucial Thanks To The Folks That Came Out And Got It Done
We’ve got to hand it to the eMoto community on this one: You all came from far and wide (some as far as Hawaii) and put it on the line to make the inaugural 2022 TKO ECR eMoto class a raging success. You all proved that not only could electric bikes come out and compete against some of the gnarliest ICE bikes in the sport, but they could actually win and many of you even did it on stock machinery.
A few honorable mentions to make here: The folks at Electric Motion USA (@electricmotion_usa) for supplying the team at ECR with incredibly capable equipment. The team at Sur Ron USA (@surron_usa_canada) for coming out to race and show support (I don’t think any other tent got as much attention). To Hawaii Rides (@hawaii_rides), who we look forward to seeing come out to defend the #1 plate next year. And last but not least, to the teams at Shock Bikes (@shock_bikes), Charged Cycle Works (@chargedcycleworks), GritShift (@gritshift), Dirtybike (@db_dirtybike), Built eBikes (@builtebikes), and EVG (@eventuregroupinc) for coming out and showing what these builds can do.
We’ll see you all next year!
2022 Redbull TKO ECR eMoto Class Results
Final race results for the 2022 TKO ECR eMoto class:
- 1st: Sam Bird @ 53.32 (Electric Motion Escape R)
- 2nd: JoJo Toole @ 54:47 (XMEX XE4 prototype)
- 3rd: Jason Smith @ 59:12 (Electric Motion Escape R)
- 4th: Brett Baldwin @ 1:06:38 (Charged Cycle Works Sur Ron X)
- 5th: Tucker Neary @ 1:10:07 (Electric Motion Escape R)
- 6th: Alis Sandulerscu @ 1:16:14 (Electric Motion E Pure)
- 7th: John Uyehara @ 1:16:48 (Electric Motion Escape R)
- 8th: Eddy Wallace @ 1:19:26 (Dirtybike Segway X260)
- 9th: Dustin Langston @ 1:26:29 (Cake Kalk OR)
- 10th: Grant Morton @ 1:28:40 (EVG Sur Ron X)
Detailed results for the race are available here.
