Hours: 41.8
Mods this month: Top end, clutch, jetting, pipe, Steg Pegz, gearing
Mods next month: None
I was very excited to be lining up for the 2016 Hattah Desert Race aboard the YZ250X. I felt like I was riding good and I had the bike feeling awesome. But it wasn’t meant to be.
Aside from writing sweet articles for ADB and posting two-stroke videos on Instagram, I am a wall and floor tiler and have been doing it for 11 years [a real job, half his luck – Ed].
And during that time, I have never been involved in an accident at work. Well, unfortunately, the Wednesday before Hattah, I found myself in hospital with a deep cut in the base of my thumb. Unsure of what damage I had done, surgery was scheduled and I was told it could be 10 days’ recovery or six months.
For me, Hattah was over before it started. Luckily, and miraculously, I missed the tendons and arteries. The surgeon stitched me up and now I am waiting for it to heal. Not ideal when the old man’s the boss.
Anyways, enough of the bad stuff, I did enjoy the prep for Hattah. First of all, a massive thanks to Yamaha, especially Thommo, for what he did to the bike before the race. The YZ-X received a complete top end freshen up and new clutch. Combine that with a 195 – yep 195 – main jet, the 14/44 gearing and a power-valve mod to increase top end, and the thing was a rocket.
Damn, it felt fast. With these changes however, I still had to keep in mind that the race is super-fast and that the bike could lean out. So I put the standard exhaust and muffler back on. The black expansion chamber runs cooler than the GYTR FMF unit we had been running and the longer muffler makes the bike run richer than the FMF shorty. I also ran a high-pressure radiator cap from CV4 along with Motul Factory Motocool coolant. I wanted to make sure the bike ran as cool as possible and stayed rich. If the bike leans out, it will lock solid.
And with all those fresh parts inside, the last thing I wanted was to tell Yamaha that it didn’t make it through. So how did it ride with those mods? Well, the gearing was so tall that I could run first and second through fast, whooped out sweepers and then once I got onto a big straight, I clicked through to top gear and held on to the monkey bars for dear life. It had a heap of grunt off the bottom and that was great for when you exit a sandy corner and need to get over the whoops and onto the footpegs.
What else went into the prep? Jay Foreman from All Pro Racing tweaked the fork so it was firmer and more aggressive. It was awesome. So I had much more confidence with a firmer front end in the sand. The boys at Holeshot Graphics whipped up some trick #20 race numbers to go on the girl and I was going to run the motocross plastics setup because the roost has a tendency to smash headlights and taillights. Better to save them for the bush.
Steve from Steg Pegz hooked us up with his arm pump savers which are a life saver in the sand. The big translucent GYTR tank got a second go (see Prod Evals) and felt pretty good even when full. Fresh Pirelli Mid Softs front and rear as well.
The bike was built and ready to go! But instead I just had to sit at home, stare at the television and check the results from the couch. Sucks to have turned out that way but that’s why they are called accidents. There’s always next year.
Enduro Editor Geoff Braico
