Trey Canard Will Race Honda Electric Motocrosser This Month

[advrider]

Honda has announced a plan to tackle the All Japan Motocross Championship with a new CR this month. Not a CR250 or anything like that (sorry, two-stroke fans). Instead of the sweet, sweet smell of pre-mix and the ring-ding-ding of years gone by, fans will get… silence, and no exhaust smoke. That’s because Honda is going to run its new CR Electric Proto.

That’s what Honda calls its new electric motocross prototype, which seems to be descended from the dirt bike that Mugen (aka Honda’s skunk works division) unveiled in 2017. Honda’s own electric prototype from 2019 also likely contributed a good slosh of its DNA.

Honda has some well-known help at the helm of the new bike. Trey Canard, who’s currently working for Honda’s American subsidiary, will ride the machine. Canard is of course a well-known name from the American MX circuit (he won the 2010 AMA Pro Motocross championship). He’s still only 33, so he should have the skills to put this through its paces. He’s a wild card entry, and he’s actually competing, unlike the first public appearance for Honda’s electric CR. Back in 2019, it only did demo laps in the public eye.

Could Honda’s electric motocrosser actually win? We’d guess that isn’t the goal here. But if a factory like Alta (RIP!) can put together a competent bike with a shoestring budget and barely any staff, imagine what Honda can do with years of R&D, a much larger team of engineers, and millions more in budget? Upcoming Round 8 in the Japanese MX series just might be a sign of the future. It is Honda’s first-ever entry of an electric motorcycle into any race, so it’s worth paying attention to what happens.

Vezi sursa