Wanted: Women to race with Royal Enfield

Women racing Royal Enfield race bikes they built: Exciting? Yes.

 Deadline is Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023 for women riders to apply to race in Royal Enfield's Build Train Race series.

Royal Enfield's 2023 BTR season consists of two four-round programs in American Flat Track and MotoAmerica road racing. 

Twelve-rider grids in each series will include returning members and new riders. Applications are  being accepted, and will close Feb. 26. Apply now, or let women friends know about this opportunity to go racing with Royal Enfield in 2023.

For details on how to apply, visit BuildTrainRace.com

2023 BTR Road Racing Schedule: 

June 2-4 Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.

June 23-24 The Ridge Motorsports Park, Shelton, Wash.

July 28-30 Brainerd International Raceway, Brainerd, Minn.

Aug. 18-20 Pittsburgh International Race Complex, Wampum, Pa. 

2023 BTR Flat Track Racing Schedule: 

April 22 Dallas Half-Mile, Mesquite, Texas

May 6 Ventura Short Track, Ventura, Calif.

July 1 West Virginia Half Mile, Mineral Wells, W.V.

July 22 Bridgeport Half Mile, Swedesboro, N.J.

Royal Enfield enlisted three-time Grand Prix champion "Fast Freddie Spencer" as mentor and riding coach to the BTR Road Racing paddock.

"Royal Enfield’s Build Train Race program is unique in that it brings racing back to the basics: technique, talent and most importantly, passion," Spencer was quoted, in a press release from Royal Enfield.

"That’s the true soul of racing, and I'm looking forward to fostering that with the BTR women, and hopefully we can continue to encourage people everywhere to get out on the track and give racing a try, and most importantly, just experience the enjoyment of what motorcycling gives you," he said.

Freddie Spencer, a champion with experience teaching racing.

Spencer gave Honda its first super bike victory when he won the Road America round of the 1980 AMA Superbike Championship. In 1983 he won his first 500cc World Championship at 21, the then youngest to win the title. For many years he operated Freddie Spencer's High Performance Riding School.

Royal Enfield’s BTR program guides aspiring women racers through the process of building a race bike from a stock Royal Enfield INT650 in BTR Flat Track, or Continental GT 650 in BTR Road Racing. They learn technique and race craft on the track, and finally race within a national championship.

I managed to watch several of the 2022 Build Train Race road racing events and found them exciting and emotion packed.

Admittedly, as the father of two daughters, I was on edge because I just didn't want to see any woman crash. (So much for people who say race fans enjoy the crashes.) But some BTR racers did crash, and they got up again, and stuck with it.

I preferred the road racing series to the flat track series just because the streamlined Royal Enfield Continental GT 650s looked so darn good. And it's on pavement, which is where I ride.

You don't have to be a racer to enjoy watching the BTR series. As Spencer said in the press release: "Most importantly, just experience the enjoyment of what motorcycling gives you."

Kayleigh Buyck of New York won the 2022 BTR road racing series, despite losing championship points in one race for failure to observe a red flag.