Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

One of the world’s iconic races, along with the Isle of Man TT, the Erzberg Rodeo and a handful of others, it has attained an almost mythical status among racers and fans of two and four-wheeled motorsport.

Held in the Colorado Rockies, since 1916, the course is 12.42 miles (20km) and made up of 156 turns, with a finish line at 14,115ft (4302m), that’s only 500m less than the summit of Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Europe. It’s a time trial, each rider tackling the extremely treacherous course alone, trying to get close to Chris Fillmore's motorcycle course record of 9:49:625, set on a KTM Super Duke 1290R in 2017. To get anywhere close to that virtually every turn is attacked with a knee on the tarmac. The consequences of even a small mistake are catastrophic.

Pikes Peak is also one of the very few motorcycle races that allows true prototype machinery to compete. That’s what attracted Spanish company BOTTPOWER. They design and build incredible looking street bikes, using Buell V-twin engines mounted in their own large diameter, single tube frames, and sell kits for home builders to create their own. 

BOTTPOWER decided to take-on the factory teams and the mountain and built a one-off race bike the BOTT XR1R for the 2017 PIKES PEAK RACE and KRIEGA joined the team as one of the main sponsors. 

With Travis Newbold as rider, the team finished 4th overall and won the “Challenge Exhibition Powersport” and “Challenge Motorcycle” categories.