Valerie ThompsonSeven-time land speed record holder Valerie Thompson will return to the El Mirage Dry Lake Bed May 16-17 for Southern California Timing Association’s (SCTA) land speed racing event.Thompson hopes of breaking the land speed record in the APS-G class, and become the first female motorcyclist to earn a spot in the famed, “El Mirage 200 MPH Club.”
The club is a prestigious listing of racers who have achieved two major accomplishments: reach or exceed 200 MPH and break the existing record during the same run.“America’s Queen of Speed” reached 199.903 mph at El Mirage on her BMW S 1000 RR motorcycle in 2014, against a record of 214.360 set in 2011. Considering Thompson has achieved 200 MPH club membership at four other land speed racing events and set a personal best speed of 217.7 MPH at the Texas Mile in 2014, she’s poised to break the record at El Mirage to become the first female motorcyclist in the famous record list.“This will be my third time racing at the famous dry lake bed. Setting a new record and joining the El Mirage 200 MPH Club has been one of my goals since I started land speed racing,” says Thompson. “It’s a unique club since you have to break an existing record and exceed 200 mph during the same run, which makes it even tougher to gain membership.”Inspiring young women to achieve their potential has become a personal effort of Thompson’s, who regularly donates time to charitable organizations that help children overcome personal challenges. She earned the “American Women Riders Community Hero Award” in 2011 for her support efforts with HopeKids.org.“Inspiring kids to achieve their goals and dreams drives me to do the same at every race I compete in,” Thompson says about the young children she’s worked with. “I always tell them courage is the best protection they can have.”Having recently added Quicksilver Powersports Lubricants as a major sponsor of her BMW racing team, Thompson has everything in place to become the first female motorcyclist in the El Mirage 200 MPH Club.For additional information, visit SCTA.
KTM Super ADV R + Lightning Motorcycles’ Richard Hatfield
byMotos and Friends by Ultimate Motorcycle
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Motos and Friends—the weekly Podcast brought to you by the editorial team at Ultimate Motorcycling. My name is Arthur Coldwells.
In this week’s first segment, Editor Don Williams rides KTM’s new 1290 Super Adventure R. This hardcore ADV bike is big, powerful, and a true expert-level machine. Interestingly, it has multiple points of adjustment within its highly capable electronics package, and Don discovered several big surprises where the bike changed personality completely. His is an intriguing look at one of the most capable off road ADV bikes on the market today.
In the second segment, I chat with Richard Hatfield, CEO of Lightning motorcycles. This silicon valley based manufacturer was founded in 2006, and having racked up several notable race victories (including Pikes Peak in 2013 with the late Carlin Dunne on board) Lightning have certainly dominated in racing terms. In another first, Lightning has just announced a new rapid-charging battery technology that may well bring electric motorcycles into becoming real-world, practical transport.
So from all of us here at Motos & Friends… we hope you enjoy this episode!
