Posts
47
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
US
Edited Date/Time
1/26/2012 2:56pm
Something odd happened to him starting the 3rd from last lap. He started jumping things he hadn't jumped all race. I think he was convinced he had it in the bag and you could see an almost cocky wave go over him. By this time, the track was far worse then when the race started due to a very heavy constant rain and, he had a HUGE lead.
What I'm getting at is, he ran 10+ laps doing exactly the same jumps, pulled away from Kevin even though he staled it 2-3x, then changed it up [b:aae8tvpr]big time [/b:aae8tvpr]with 3 to go. The bike was already beat half to death, looked like radiator steam coming out of it by lap 10, and this track had nearly 3' deep puddles all over it. The bike was on its last leg we believe, and hot as a hillbilly next to little kids tires at LL's. ( Joke) Reed, for [i:aae8tvpr]unknown[/i:aae8tvpr] reasons, decides to start hucking very difficult jumps, hitting the rev limiter constantly and loading the bike to death trying (and succeeding) to clear jumps that took every single ounce of horsepower out of the bike. I was there, he put that bike tthrough utter and absolute hell the last 3 laps.
We talked about it on the way home. I honestly think that his bike was at the raged edge of overheating for a good bit of the race. Almost every bike there was overheating mid race. This was the worst conditions a bike could be in and was also the most demanding. Reed rode his bike harder and pulled the field putting the motor through more stress. The water on the ground damn near doubled by the end of the race and most puddles litterally turned into a huge muck mix that now looked like oatmeal instead of water. He made big changes for unknown reasons with 3 laps left, and it caused the bike cross the line and fail with 2 turns to go.
The DQ comment was about cutting the track. He went off the track probably 6 times and each time, he took the longest way possible getting back on after passing entire whoop sections at times. Well, the last time, he screwed up with Kevin in the lead, went off the track before the Northwest berm, stayed off the track PINNED and went straight through the inside hay bales entering dead center of the turn while nearly T-boning Kevin. He left the track down 3-4 bike lengths ended up right next to him back in the race. In doing this he bypassed an almost impossible double that Kevin had to slowly single, single. This to us, and the entire crowd in our area, looked 100% illegal. He gained 3-4 bike lengths on Kevin while in the grass pinned as Kevin had to single a double leading into the berm.
I know this can not be proven but if you were there to see this, you'd have good reason to consider it very likely Reeds fault the bike died.
What I'm getting at is, he ran 10+ laps doing exactly the same jumps, pulled away from Kevin even though he staled it 2-3x, then changed it up [b:aae8tvpr]big time [/b:aae8tvpr]with 3 to go. The bike was already beat half to death, looked like radiator steam coming out of it by lap 10, and this track had nearly 3' deep puddles all over it. The bike was on its last leg we believe, and hot as a hillbilly next to little kids tires at LL's. ( Joke) Reed, for [i:aae8tvpr]unknown[/i:aae8tvpr] reasons, decides to start hucking very difficult jumps, hitting the rev limiter constantly and loading the bike to death trying (and succeeding) to clear jumps that took every single ounce of horsepower out of the bike. I was there, he put that bike tthrough utter and absolute hell the last 3 laps.
We talked about it on the way home. I honestly think that his bike was at the raged edge of overheating for a good bit of the race. Almost every bike there was overheating mid race. This was the worst conditions a bike could be in and was also the most demanding. Reed rode his bike harder and pulled the field putting the motor through more stress. The water on the ground damn near doubled by the end of the race and most puddles litterally turned into a huge muck mix that now looked like oatmeal instead of water. He made big changes for unknown reasons with 3 laps left, and it caused the bike cross the line and fail with 2 turns to go.
The DQ comment was about cutting the track. He went off the track probably 6 times and each time, he took the longest way possible getting back on after passing entire whoop sections at times. Well, the last time, he screwed up with Kevin in the lead, went off the track before the Northwest berm, stayed off the track PINNED and went straight through the inside hay bales entering dead center of the turn while nearly T-boning Kevin. He left the track down 3-4 bike lengths ended up right next to him back in the race. In doing this he bypassed an almost impossible double that Kevin had to slowly single, single. This to us, and the entire crowd in our area, looked 100% illegal. He gained 3-4 bike lengths on Kevin while in the grass pinned as Kevin had to single a double leading into the berm.
I know this can not be proven but if you were there to see this, you'd have good reason to consider it very likely Reeds fault the bike died.
and reed is a cocky rider that gives no credit to his team
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I think he was just having fun w. the mud, or maybe he knew he was going to get docked some seconds and knew he had to open up a lead to hold onto the win.
As far as braking the bike, I'm pretty sure it was the clutch that fried judging by the way it slowly came to a stop but was still moving, and him trying to keep it moving may have worked the engine by getting it so hot (I'm not mechanic, but I've ridden some mud and fried some clutches, so that's my guess). If that was the case, then speeding up and doing the jumps was going to be less stress on a clutch because instead of feathering it to roll up and over jumps, he's on the gas hard carrying momentum and can use the throttle more than just the clutch.
Finally. Face it, Hondas are more durable
I think he was just having fun w. the mud, or maybe he knew he was going to get docked some seconds and knew he had to open up a lead to hold onto the win.
As far as braking the bike, [u:1e374nsq]I'm pretty sure it was the clutch that fried judging by the way it slowly came to a stop but was still moving, and him trying to keep it moving may have worked the engine by getting it so hot (I'm not mechanic, but I've ridden some mud and fried some clutches, so that's my guess). If that was the case, then speeding up and doing the jumps was going to be less stress on a clutch because instead of feathering it to roll up and over jumps, he's on the gas hard carrying momentum and can use the throttle more than just the clutch. [/u:1e374nsq]
Finally. Face it, Hondas are more durable
I am glad to see not everyone on this board is clueless. One out of nine posts has a clue.It's quite possible that the motor was loosing power and he was doing the jumps trying not to load the motor any more than he had to. My guess is you are right and it was the clutch.
BTW: I also didn't like the way Reed was re-entering the track and yes the Hondas are a much tougher bike and anyone that has ever worked on them should know why.
and reed is a cocky rider that gives no credit to his team[/quote:2njjntaw]
Douche bag...he is ALWAYS thanking his team in every podium speech I see. How can you say that he gives no credit to them?
I think he was just having fun w. the mud, or maybe he knew he was going to get docked some seconds and knew he had to open up a lead to hold onto the win.
As far as braking the bike, [u:23d8rhay]I'm pretty sure it was the clutch that fried judging by the way it slowly came to a stop but was still moving, and him trying to keep it moving may have worked the engine by getting it so hot (I'm not mechanic, but I've ridden some mud and fried some clutches, so that's my guess). If that was the case, then speeding up and doing the jumps was going to be less stress on a clutch because instead of feathering it to roll up and over jumps, he's on the gas hard carrying momentum and can use the throttle more than just the clutch. [/u:23d8rhay]
Finally. Face it, Hondas are more durable
I am glad to see not everyone on this board is clueless. One out of nine posts has a clue.It's quite possible that the motor was loosing power and he was doing the jumps trying not to load the motor any more than he had to. My guess is you are right and it was the clutch.
BTW: I also didn't like the way Reed was re-entering the track and yes the Hondas are a much tougher bike and anyone that has ever worked on them should know why.[/quote:23d8rhay]
Why would he have been trying to start it again if it was the clutch? I've only lost a clutch one time but my bike kept running after it went...
I am accusing Reed of losing his cool and over anticipating his win at the "3 laps to go" point.
I don't think it was the clutch. Ricky and Emig didn't think it was his clutch. It was clear on video that it was down on compression and they also mentioned that. It was also shooting unusual flames out the silencer in the last straight before it died. For those that are trying to say he started jumping things to save the bike, I don't buy it. After 10 laps on that track, the last thing you'd ever do is make a change with 3 laps left and risk the bike. Jumping some of those jumps would certainly load the bike up more then clutching and wheeling. Hitting the water between the jumps also had to have a cooling effect somewhat.
I picked him to win so, try not to think I am taking anything away from how he rode. He was far and above anybody on the track yesterday. He absolutely flew in that swamp and deserved the win.
Give me a fucking break.
Pit Row
What happened is the water went thru the filter and hit the redhot exhaust valves warping them and shorting the sparkplug.He had no compression even though the engine heat woulda dried the plug very fast.It would have ran with the warped valves but the way he was revin' it trying to "clean" it out just sucked in more water and shorted the plug just enuff to kill it.
I put one of the clutches they run in a bike,it wont go bad,it is drill to pull oil thru itself and keep cool.They are a work of art.
I think he was just having fun w. the mud, or maybe he knew he was going to get docked some seconds and knew he had to open up a lead to hold onto the win.
As far as braking the bike, [u:2kazq6jm]I'm pretty sure it was the clutch that fried judging by the way it slowly came to a stop but was still moving, and him trying to keep it moving may have worked the engine by getting it so hot (I'm not mechanic, but I've ridden some mud and fried some clutches, so that's my guess). If that was the case, then speeding up and doing the jumps was going to be less stress on a clutch because instead of feathering it to roll up and over jumps, he's on the gas hard carrying momentum and can use the throttle more than just the clutch. [/u:2kazq6jm]
Finally. Face it, Hondas are more durable
I am glad to see not everyone on this board is clueless. One out of nine posts has a clue.It's quite possible that the motor was loosing power and he was doing the jumps trying not to load the motor any more than he had to. My guess is you are right and it was the clutch.[/quote:2kazq6jm]
If it was the clutch, he would have been trying to adjust some play into the lever. Besides, you could clearly see his bike was pulling water through the motor. Seconds after splashing through the many water/mud holes out there, you could see water vapor shooting out the exhaust. Now I'm not talking about the steam coming from the over-flow or just coming off of the hot motor and exhaust. The watery mud was going past the filter and getting sucked through the filter. My guess would be that the volume of water and grit ruined or broke one of the valves, evident by the flame coming from the exhaust right before the motor came to a halt.
As many of the off-road guys know, proper prep of the airbox could have fixed the or helped the problem. A number of the bikes out there didn't have the water going past the filter quite as bad as Reed's bike. Also what were they thinking when they decided not to put handguards on the bike? Maybe it just goes to show that Reed's team didn't take the threat of rain quite as serious.
A couple laps from the end I was thinking that nearly all the bikes out there could go straight to the crusher. The mechanics are going to be VERY busy this week.
[img:3plgyxc4]http://www.vitalmx.com/images/photos/10005/normal_618533898_1205055354…]
How ever bad that race looked on TV, it was MUCH worse in person.
How ever bad that race looked on TV, it was MUCH worse in person.[/quote:3qkd04r3]
Got that right
Reeds' bike backfired twice, which leads me to believe it sucked that wrong amount of water at the exact wrong time, lets face it ALL the bikes were running with dirty crappy water running thru them the whole race! Surprised any bike made 12 laps with out screwing up the electrode on the plugs..............the last time (8 years ago) we had a championship race in that kind of water/mud, my trusty 500 fouled a plug after 2 laps of sputtering.
Simply amazing what those bikes withstood friday night.
Reed did what everyone else did, he tried to survive and win anyway he could.
Then what happens?
Head gaskets fail as does other things under excessive temps
Unless or until something is printed saying it sucked water, I am going to continue believing that a long term factory Yamaha mechanic knows how to properly waterproof an airbox.
they were sucking water on the first lap unless they started running pre mix, "smoke or "mist" coming out of a thumper exhaust wasn't visable at Indy the week before? LOL beleive me they were sucking water the whole race no question about it. Pro or not you can only submerge a bike in those conditions so many times and with the suction those things have they will take it right through the motor. no slight against thier abilities, its just pyhsics.
Only until 2 laps from the end did Reed start puffing steam like a locomotive out the exhaust.
I looked for it (it's what I do)
Few if any were puffin out the pipe other than Reed at the end
Post a reply to: Did Reed break his own bike and also risk a DQ?