FIM e-Power International Championship at Laguna Seca Michael Czysz wins the first e-Power event in the USA Sunday’s pole position was held by Michael Barnes from Lightning Motorcycles, with a lap time of 1’45,769 closely followed by Michael Czysz and Thijs de Ridder with 1’47.338 and 1’48.570 each. The race started under a bright sun with the public anxious to see and hear how these electric powered machines would run, waving and applauding the riders on the grid. The race started with a Michael Barnes taking a ‘lightning’ fast start, instantly setting a quick pace, riding 5 seconds faster than Michael Czysz and Thijs De Ridder (DR Motors) closely following in third. This order remained for almost the whole race while another battle concerned Thomas Betti (Bettimoto) and Matthias Himmelmann (Münch Racing) with continuous overtaking. This scenario remained in place as the riders improved on their lap times and some had to please themselves with troubleshooting while riding. Chris Amendt (Epo-Bike.de) had to ‘reset’ his bike because of motor overheating while Michael Barnes decreased the pace to save some battery. Mike Hannas (EPC) was riding smoothly to keep the motor and batteries healthy until the 9th lap although he lost his privileged 6th place on the grid. The fight became intense one lap from the end. With Michael Barnes in the lead on the last lap with a 6.6 seconds lead, it was not until 100 metres before the finish line that he was overtaken by Michael Czysz, giving him the 1st place to Motoczysz on the line. Barnes ran out of battery power on this last lap. 2nd and 3rd place went thus to Barnes and de Ridder respectively. Thomas Betti finished in 4th followed by Himmelmann, Luciano Betti, Mike Hannas and Chris Amendt. All teams demonstrated an incredible fair play and the riders celebrated all together the arrival. Betti moto was forced to use its spare motor because last incident destroyed completely the rotor of its DC motor. Amendt used spares from KR17, K-Squared and Lightning motorcycles to change the motor, passing its technical check only 10 minutes before the starting procedure. Next FIM e-Power events will be in Magny Cours (France) on September 11th and in Imola (Italy) on September 26th. About the FIM (www.fim-live.com) The FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) founded in 1904, is the world governing body for motorcycle sport and is an independent association formed by 101 National Federations throughout the world. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in motorcycle sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Among its 49 FIM World Championships the main events are MotoGP, Superbike, Endurance, Motocross, Supercross, Trial, Enduro and Speedway. The FIM also deals with non-sporting matters such as leisure motorcycling, mobility, transport, road safety, public policy and the environment. The FIM was the first International Sporting Federation to enforce an Environmental Code in 1994.