Taddy Blazusiak aimed to unveil the Stark Future electric bike at the inaugural event of the 2023/24 SuperEnduro World Championship. However, the FIM unexpectedly prohibited this with a weak justification.
FIM Motorcycle World Federation once again played a regrettable role, abruptly preventing the debut of an electric bike in the indoor series. Behind closed doors in the radio paddock, rumors circulated that a competitor had allegedly exerted influence behind the scenes.
Taddy Blazusiak, a six-time world champion in the twilight of his racing career, had the potential to create a significant buzz with the introduction of an electric bike to the SuperEnduro World Championship, thereby imparting a greener aspect to motorsport as a whole.
Following his failure to reach a contract extension with his previous employer GASGAS (Pierer Mobility Group), resulting in an early release from his contract, the Polish racer joined forces with the U.S. electric bike manufacturer Stark. His intention was to place an e-bike on the starting grid for the first time in the premier ‘Prestige’ class.
Everything was ready for this: The approval and categorisation from the FIM’s Enduro department was available by email. However, on the Thursday before the event, the ‘Stark Future Racing’ team was informed of new regulations, which stated that e-bikes would not be authorised to start. Blazusiak told SPEEDWEEK.com after his arrival in Lievin: “I don’t know what happened. I’m a racer and I’m here to race. My team was allowed to race and the bike was authorised by the FIM. This week there were suddenly new regulations. These were communicated to the team on Thursday night and they said that the bike was not authorised. That is of course an unacceptable situation.”
He continued: “I came here, the team came here and now we are not allowed to ride. This is an absolute disaster for my team, for me, for the sponsors, for the sport as a whole, for the fans, simply for everyone.”
As Blazusiak explained, this incomprehensible decision is not particularly favourable for the development of the sport, the development of new target groups and so on. The fact that the committed industry is being offended in this way is also likely to be a setback for the future of electric motorbikes in motorsport.
After Taddy Blazusiak was allowed to do a few laps of the already completed circuit for the production of a promotional film with the permission of the World Championship promoter ABC Communication, which was at first delighted and then dismayed by the latest developments, he packed up and travelled home. Regardless of this, he will continue testing from Monday.
In previous tests, the now 40-year-old did indeed compare the electric bike with a conventional combustion bike – and achieved almost identical times. Nevertheless, the e-bike has an insane acceleration, but a significantly higher weight. He commented: “I’m a racer and like all types of motorbike, whether two-stroke, four-stroke or electric. But I had to change my riding style quite a bit on the e-bike.”
Of course, Stark Race Director Sebastien Tortelli, who has been involved in the development of the Stark e-bikes for two years, initially even as a test rider, also had an opinion on the short-term cancellation, which he expressed: “We were told that safety concerns were the reason for not being allowed to race, but we have all kinds of certificates. This is an unacceptable failure for us and an absolute step backwards for the sport.”
Taddy Blazusiak’s home race in Krakow is coming up in a fortnight’ time, and the two-time motocross world champion (1996 125cc and 1998 250cc) had this to say: “Taddy has contacted FIM President Jorge Viegas, who is currently at the MotoGP finale in Valencia. He has promised to push for a decision on how to proceed. But I think the FIM is too big an organisation, it won’t happen that quickly. They have the power to choose the right regulations. But to be honest, I don’t know what will happen. After all, they managed to decide something in the wrong direction just 24 hours before the race. We will at least continue to prepare well and see what happens.”
