Davies DNF Speculation

Possibly mud was so packed in the sprocket and chain that it stressed an altar over heated clutch 

Transmission gears broke….should have. Used rotella…2nd guess…clutch smoked…should have used  rotella…. Good opportunity for screetch to put her honorary journalism skills to use and track down the team manager for questioning….

Admittedly I scrub through the dead air between races, but it seems like a good opportunity to go film them pulling the bike apart, ask a mechanic and maybe get a diagnosis.. 

On the Vital review pod (I think) they said it was a brake/chain binding issue and they freed it up once he got the bike into the mechanics area.

Cole was on it yesterday, led every lap when his bike was running

Lewis as reported that it was a rock in the rear brake that led to the bike overheating and stopping,  you could see the bike locking up as he tried to down shift and keep going, 

The rear wheel clearly seized. Since brakes are normally intended to do just that, (in a controlled manner), they would be my first suspect. Clutch burned alive, bike smoking like a Cheech and Chong party van, all would come from engine agony trying to drive the seized rear wheel. Why did it seize? Maybe a rock in the caliper, maybe drag cooked the mud which acted like more pad. Maybe some sprocket/chain lockage, per rbm33. Cole is a precise, skilled racer. He did not look like he was abusing his clutch. I expect to hear of some stinkin' bad luck. He was on his way to a well deserved win by a big margin.

He apparently cased a jump, and a rock got lodged into the pedal area, partially engaging the rear brake and overheating the engine. They got the rock out in the pits, but it was too late to do anything.

Not like they had extra time between motos anything.  Maybe Will can talk to the Team Manager and they can all discuss it on a call this week.

I trust that's what happened.

When I had a 2015 KTM 350XC-F the brake lever adjuster lock-nut loosened to the point that my rear brake was applied when i didn't know, and it repeatedly would heat up the rear rotor and lock up, which in turn would overheat the engine trying to get the rear wheel to brake loose. It would only go again once it cooled down enough to let the wheel roll again, and lock right back up. Thankfully I found the issue befor tearing my engine apart! Simple fix in my case and i can see the same if a rock held the brake on at all.

You could see his chain tense up when he'd try to go, but the rear wheel was locked and not having it. I figured right there it was something to do with the rear brake.

I see what you did there 🤣

Clearly faking it.

Think about it! The most reliable bike on the track just suddenly stops - yeah right!

From one of the drone shots you can clearly see that the world is flat as well!

Didn't teams used to pack a lot of foam or sponge material between the brake pedal and cases back in the day for mud races to prevent exactly that kind of thing from happening?

Did you not see the actual footage showing otherwise?