Ice Games

Ice racing—perhaps the fringiest of fringe motorcycle sports—could get a big-time boost in popularity following an ice racing video exhibition held in conjunction with ESPN’s X Games Aspen, featuring Harley-Davidson factory flat track racer Brad Baker squaring off against fellow AMA Pro flat track racers Jared Mees and his wife, Nichole Mees. And here’s the icing on the cake—the trio aren’t racing their usual Harley-Davidson XR750 flat track bikes, but specially equipped, studded-tire versions of the all-new Harley-Davidson Street 750, which will make its American debut at the X Games event.

Baker, the reigning AMA Pro Grand National champion, and the Mees (Jared is the 2012 AMA Pro Grand National Champion) made laps on a frozen oval in Michigan riding modified versions of the Street motorcycle that have been retrofitted with knobby tires each carrying hundred of razor-sharp ice screws. That video will be broadcast during X Games programming on the ESPN network, and fans will be invited to share comments via the Twitter hashtag #XGIceRace These comments will be logged while the network considers whether to add ice racing as an X Games medal event in 2015. Baker will also appear in Aspen all weekend at the X Games expo area, where Harley-Davidson will host a display featuring the modified Street bikes.

Ice racing, an X Games Sport? “While we think ice racing is hardcore, it’s only fitting that Harley-Davidson is having extreme sports fans around the world help decide the X Games fate of the sport,” says Dino Bernacchi, Director of North American Marketing Communications, Harley-Davidson Motor Company.

Though the Street, Harley-Davidson’s latest addition to its Dark Custom lineup and its first all-new motorcycle platform in 13 years, was designed primarily for cruising urban boulevards, the lean chassis and responsive, liquid-cooled Revolution X V-twin engine make it easy to ride anywhere—even laid over on its side on a frozen lake, apparently.

“Harley-Davidson has been pioneering action sports before they were even defined as action sports,” adds Bernacchi. “In fact, archive photos in the Harley-Davidson Museum show enthusiasts racing on frozen lakes almost a century ago, so it’s exciting to see us back racing on ice with a new generation of riders on the newest addition to the Dark Custom motorcycle lineup.”

The new motorcycle will be available in dealerships nationwide later this year. You can learn more about the X Games exhibition event right now at www.darkcustom.com/iceracing.

And click this link Ice Racing on the 2014 Street 750 for video of H-D's Ice Racing Exhibition with the new Street 750!

Photos: Harley-Davidson