EBR 1190RX Dominates in Australia

The EBR 1190RX took first place in all four races of its debut in the Pirelli Race Series at the famed Phillip Island last weekend, August 30 and 31, 2014. America’s new superbike, ridden by Australian Superbike racer Chas Hern, competed in the National BEARS class and featured limited modifications compared to the highly modified competition.

Competing against a field of fully race-prepared superbikes that included Aprilia RSV4s, Ducati Panigales, KTM RC8 1190s and BMW S1000RRs, Hern and the EBR 1190RX took pole position in qualifying and went on to place first in all four races at Phillip Island. Hern’s EBR 1190RX featured Pirelli race rubber and fiberglass fairings as the only modifications. The bike ran a standard exhaust, no quickshifter, no engine modifications and standard street gearing that comes stock in the EBR 1190RX.

“This is exciting news for EBR and our race development program, showing that our motorcycles can win races right off the showroom floor,” said Joseph Elasmar, EBR Australia and New Zealand. “It is encouraging to see success in a new market with EBR Australia and we view this as only the beginning of our race effort on the continent.”

Two weeks ago, EBR Australia took Hern to Broadford Track for a video shoot with the new EBR 1190RX. Expecting nothing more than some great footage, the team was surprised to see Hern making extremely fast laps on a completely stock bike with road tires. The decision was made to enter Hern and the EBR 1190RX into the National BEARS class for round three of the Pirelli Race Series.

“This is a testament to what the 1190RX is capable of right out of the crate. We all knew Erik Buell’s credentials when it comes to road bikes; this shows what his outside the box thinking can achieve on a racetrack,” said Elasmar. “Frankly, we’re stoked. This is the beginning of EBR racing in Australia, and Chas Hern was running a fairly consistent half second faster than the rest of the field. The entire paddock was bubbling over with shocked excitement over how amazingly fast this motorcycle is on the track in stock form.”

Round four of the Pirelli Road Race series will take place September 27–28 at Broadford Track near Melbourne, Australia.

The boards of the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF), Specialty Vehicle Institute of America (SVIA), and the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association (ROHVA) voted unanimously to appoint Scott Schloegel as acting president and CEO of the associations. Diana Sanchez was appointed acting chief operating officer.

Schloegel and Sanchez, whose appointments are effective immediately, will also continue to serve in their current roles as senior vice president of government relations and vice president of operations respectively. The interim leadership was selected to ensure a seamless transition as the associations’ search committee continues to conduct a comprehensive review of the position of president and CEO, and a subsequent search to replace outgoing President and CEO Erik Pritchard.