Are Electric Motorcycles Banned From
Top Level of Amateur Motocross?

If you’ve been following the motocross news at all, you’ve no doubt seen some buzz from commentators about the inclusion of electric vehicles in competition. There are conflicting narratives of the current state of the rules, which unfortunately has led to a lot of misinformation. What you need to know can be boiled down to three major points.

• AMA rules allow the promoter to determine whether to allow electric vehicles
• Individual promoters make radically different choices sometimes
• The Lucas Oil Pro Championship and its associated AMA amateur championship will not allow electric vehicles

So That Means They Are Banned?

This year, yes, in these two events. Since the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur Championship is considered by many to be the pinnacle of amateur racing in the sport, it is accurate to say the highest level competition is still banning electric bikes.

The reason they give is that even with the best dirt bike mods, dirt bike OEM parts are still competitive with the right riding skill and fine-tuning adjustments to suit a rider’s style. The organization and its leadership view electric bikes as a completely different class of vehicle than traditional motocross dirt bikes.

Remembering Two-Stroke vs. Four-Stroke

The promoters invoked the inclusion of four-stroke engines at the 1997 AMA event and the subsequent lack of participation among two-stroke models as they were shown to be simply outclassed by the innovation. Whether it’s a good justification or not, it does help fans to understand why they would want to be sure they understand the behavior of a new kind of bike before including it in competition.

Radically different bike classes do best in their own dedicated race classes, but regardless of your race class, you need cheap dirt bike tire combos that suit the next event you’re in. Make sure you shop for separate dirt, mud, and off-road tires to be ready for any competition in the Championship.