Eddie Karlsson takes the Stark VARG to victory at the I’Do Hard Enduro in Estonia – ride onboard for the prologue.

Chances to race electric motorcycles alongside conventional powered enduro bikes remains a tricky tightrope for riders with not every series or event organiser sanctioning their races as open classification.

For the Stark VARG factory rider Eddie Karlsson that remains an issue he is taking in his stride, riding and racing where he can at both home series the Battle of the Vikings Swedish Championship and last weekend, in Estonia, the I’Do Hard Enduro. 

Apart from being fans of Eddie and what he can do on a bike – check his social media – we keen to see how the VARG stacks up when it is allowed to race side-by-side with petrol bikes.

Last weekend in Estonia Karlsson took on both sprint qualification and 1.5 hour main race and take the win with a huge irony of a main trophy built from a sprocket and a two-stroke expansion chamber…

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Saturday’s qualification round was a 33km sprint race that saw Karlsson start with a 97% battery, navigating a fast course with a lot of wide-open fields, to finish with just 7% battery remaining.

Sunday’s second qualification session was more of a traditional extreme enduro test featuring a 1.5-hour race through steep hills. Karlsson started this session with his VARG at 96% battery and finished with 32% remaining, securing his place in the final.

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The final race loop, more challenging again with additional difficult slopes, saw Karlsson take the win noting that while the bike handled excellently overall, he did miss having a clutch during the more technical parts of the track.

It’s interesting how the lack of clutch seems to be a notable element, as we know, you meter the power to the back wheel a lot on technical riding by using the clutch lever. What’s becoming more clear as time passes is the VARG can do this kind of riding and in many ways is proving the battery life is manageable in events where full power and throttle isn’t needed so often.

 

Photo Credit: Stark Future + I'Do hard Enduro