Motorcycles Will Not Race Next Year at Pikes Peak

The future of motorcycles competing at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb continues to be a precarious situation after this year’s death of Carlin Dunne.

As such, the Board of Directors for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb recently convened and decided that for next year’s event, no motorcycle racing will take place as part of the hill climb.

In a press release, the race organization says that it needs to “gather data and analytics to review more thoroughly the impact on the overall event in the absence of this program.”

Though there have been 97 editions of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, only 41 of those races have included motorcycles in the “Race to the Clouds” event, with Pikes Peak primarily always being a car race.

The Pikes Peak organizers are leaning on that history of including and not including motorcycles as part of its reasoning for today’s decision, but that history ignores the fact that paving the road to the summit of Pikes Peak has substantially changed the race, especially for motorcycles, which has led to an increase in injuries and fatalities.

“Motorcycles have been a part of the PPIHC for the past 29 years, and their history on America’s Mountain dates back to the inaugural running in 1916,” said Tom Osborne, Chairman.

“That said, the motorcycle program hasn’t been an annual event. They have run 41 of the 97 years we’ve been racing on Pikes Peak. It’s just time to take a hard look at every aspect of the race, including the motorcycle program, and determine whether or not the event may change.”

Presumably after next year’s edition of the race, it will be determined if motorcycles should be included in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and if so, how they racing format will work.

Without a major change to how the hill climb is managed, organized, and executed, it is difficult to see how the organizers can reasonable ask competitors to race at the event, let alone those on two wheels.