EMERYVILLE HEADS OFF TO THE RACES
International eSkootr Championship Racing Series will make U.S. debut in fall
If a Razor kick scooter and a lightcycle from “Tron” had a baby, it would be the S1-X prototype eSkootr.
These racing machines are powered by twin 6kW motors, fabricated with carbon fiber chassis, weigh upward of 90 pounds and feature both a boost button and a kill switch.
Decked out from helmet to toe in brightly colored safety gear, racers in the eSC eSkootr Championship Racing Series must strain to stay upright on the eSkootr's two 11-inch wheels while trying to edge out the competition along courses that are no longer than a half-mile.
They zip down a starting ramp onto a short-circuit track, leaning 45 degrees while winding around tight corners and darting up to 60 mph in a race to reach the checkered flag.
Spectators across the Bay Area will be able to watch this buzzy action up close and personal this fall as Emeryville is poised to host the second season of the eSkootr Championship. The race will mark the North American debut of one of the newest international motorsports.
The S1-X's ride is so intense that Khalil Beschir, a former race car driver who co-founded the eSkootr championship, said none of the 30 racers on the league's 10 professional teams — comprised of Olympians and world champions from sports such as BMX, cycling, motocross, snowboarding and field hockey — can last more than a few minutes at a time.
“It's so physical on the legs and the core of the body, because you're squatting for five minutes and swapping legs the entire time,” Beschir said. “When we had one of the top people from the world championship for motorbikes come in, he went for only three minutes and said, `This is going to kill us all.' ”
Thankfully, crowds need not worry about their own safety. Beschir said the London-based organization spent more than two years developing track barriers that can absorb the impact of a eSkootr crash at full speed without moving more than 7 feet.
After the sport kicked off its inaugural 2022 season on tracks in England, Switzerland and France, the hope is that the eSC Championship will eventually spark grassroots teams, riders and races to sprout beyond the league.
Richard Norton, eSC's head of commercial and marketing, is confident these races can pique anyone's interest, from ages 6 to 60.
“Kids are glued to the action because it's short, heat-based racing,” Norton said. “And parents are also able to enjoy the event, because while the kids are never bored, there's enough
forklift and a bulldozer, prosecutors allege. After the confrontation, he allegedly shot the supervisor and the co-worker, along with the co-worker's wife and two others at the farm.
Prosecutors suspect Zhao continued his shooting rampage at Concord Farms, another mushroom farm across town. There, investigators say he killed a former assistant manager whom he felt wronged by, as well as another couple.
In a phone call from the San Mateo County Jail to an NBC Bay Area reporter, Zhao admitted to the killings and expressed remorse for the bloodshed.
Zhao remains held without bail on seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, along with numerous sentencing enhancements.
The shooting illuminated deep concerns about living conditions among migrant workers living on farms across San Mateo County. County and state officials have described the workers' dwellings at California Terra Garden as “deplorable,” with families living in shacks with leaky roofs and no running water or kitchens.
A subsequent Bay Area News Group investigation found that laws meant to ensure livable farmworker housing often went unenforced in San Mateo County, allowing farm owners to neglect their struggling workforce, including the shooter and his victims.
After the shooting, California Terra Garden announced plans to spend the next 12 months building new permanent housing for its workers on its property along Highway 92.
Zhao waved his right to a preliminary hearing — a key evidentiary proceeding that determines whether the case will continue to trial — within 60 days, allowing his defense attorneys time to continue sifting through police reports as well as time to receive autopsy reports that have yet to be completed.
The next hearing in Zhao's case was set for May 3, at which point a judge is expected to set a date for that preliminary hearing.