In October 2023, Honda announced that it would be participating in its first race weekend with the CR electric motocross prototype before the end of the month. The bike, ridden by former AMA Pro Motocross 250 champion Trey Canard, competed in round eight of the D.I.D. All Japan Motocross Championship at Offroad Village Saitama in Japan.

The race weekend took place on October 28 and 29, 2023. The CR electric prototype successfully qualified, practiced, and raced as planned. However, the results on race day were a mixed bag.

In the morning practice session, Canard was the second fastest overall. This was a promising result for a wildcard entry on a prototype machine. It set the stage for the race heats later in the day.

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In Heat One, Canard performed well on the CR prototype and finished in second place. He was only 0.7 seconds behind the winner, which was a commendable result for the first race.

Unfortunately, Canard had a crash with fellow competitor Jay Wilson in the second heat, forcing them to retire from that heat. Nevertheless, Canard got back on the bike for the third and final heat of the day. He managed to take the holeshot but crashed out due to the challenging track conditions.

The goal of Honda Racing Corporation was to use this race as a learning and development opportunity rather than focusing solely on competition. From that perspective, the weekend can be considered a success. However, the team’s performance, including grabbing two out of three holeshots and finishing second in one heat, can also be seen as positive from a competitive standpoint.

A YouTuber named TRP Adventure was present at the event and shared video footage of the qualifying session. In the video, Canard and the CR prototype demonstrated impressive performance.