VOLUME 56 ISSUE 29 JULY 23, 2019 P91
about to enter the fastest part of
the course. The highest top speed
is actually reached in the first sec-
tion at an area called the Picnic
Grounds, but it's only for a short
period. Devil's Playground to The
Summit is fourth, fifth and sixth
gear for around 80 percent of the
time, which, combined with the
rapidly rising altitude, makes for
an incredibly stressful situation.
When you reach The Summit,
you know you've done something
special.
Switching Sides
The previous three years saw
me competing at Pikes Peak for
the factory KTM North America
outfit, where I took fourth overall
in 2016, and second in 2017 and
2018—the last of which by 0.692
seconds to Dunne—in what is the
closest finish in the history of the
race for cars or motorcycles. Cru-
cially, I was second in the Heavy-
weight class every year. This was
something I dearly, dearly wanted
to correct.
For 2019, my personal Pikes
Peak journey took a new route. I
moved to Team Aprilia USA, and
this year's race was the culmina-
tion of six months of develop-
ment work, taking a 2018 press
demonstrator model Aprilia Tuono
1100 Factory and converting it
into a mountain racer.
I also had—for the first time in
my racing life—a real racing team
devoted entirely to me. Consist-
ing of seven members, I had a
team manager in Shane Pacillo;
mechanic Mark Cochran; a data
technician from Aprilia's HQ in
Noale, Italy, Nicola Marcato; gen-
eral team helper, Jeff Pfahler; Pirelli
tire technician, Oscar Solis; Piaggio
USA's marking manager, Marco
D'Acunzo; and perhaps, most
importantly, my Crew Chief, former
Pikes Peak champion and Isle of
Man TT racer, Jeremy Toye.
Having this team alleviated an
enormous level of stress from
me—I could just focus on riding as
best I could and trying to give clear,
concise feedback on the Aprilia's
performance so Jeremy could
make his educated call on setup.
The role of Jeremy Toye can-
not be underestimated. When
Aprilia asked if I'd head up this
project, my only stipulation was
that I needed a real team under
me that Jeremy was the leader of.
Toye's technical knowledge was
one thing, but his true value came
through in the calming, timely na-
The W's provide the
steepest elevation
increase as Rennie
banks into the
penultimate corner
of the section during
practice.
Rennie and second-
placed Lucy Glockner
share the spoils of the
crowd, who braved rain,
hail and even snow to be
there on race day.
