Vital MX Pit Bits: 2018 Daytona Supercross 3

Daytona offers a unique setting and equipment, dive in for the latest Pit Bits.

Daytona is always a welcome refresher during the long Supercross season, offering a unique track and setting...along with surprise performances and equipment. Dive in for the latest from along the beach in Florida.

The Daytona garages are fresh point in the season, offering a much more personal and close feeling for the teams compared to working under their own tents. We noticed many mechanics and crew members that have worked together on prior teams or just get along are reaching over their banner walls to chat a lot this weekend.

The ClubMX/RSR/Redemption Racing outfit took on a new look for the weekend with a Germain Racing/Geico Nascar livery.

Outside of Jamie Ellis from Twisted Development handling the engine duties...

There's some very unique rubber aboard, as Hoosier is working with the team to develop tires. From our brief understanding, Hoosier is focused on offering a race level tire, not quite a tire for general play riding use. Expect something like a Dunlop proto/race tire, but for the public.

Before wandering off, we spotted this Tamer rear holeshot device on the bike, which clamps onto the stock link arm.

Hey, 22nd qualifier, your gate is ready...(This was fixed before the races started.)

The whoops are rutted and nasty, causing plenty of riders to stop and take a second look. Chad Reed demonstrates.

Chad Reed's bike does look a bit...different this week. Let's break it down a bit.

WP forks? Not quite...KYB internals, lugs, lower tubes...but with WP uppers. Enzo and other shops have done similar combinations as the WP upper tube was designed around the flex characteristics of a steel chassis.

See, KYB AOS internals. The upper clamping surface of the WP tubes is over 1mm bigger, so he's back on stock clamps for now.

KYB/Technical Touch lugs.

Stock WP shock body with Pro Circuit bladder conversion.

Showa/PC 18mm A-kit shock shaft, internals, and clevis.

Steel engine mounts from a prior KTM/Husky models, before the stock bikes went to aluminum. These same mounts are used my Osborne on a 250 and were used by Musquin/Dungey last year on this chassis.

Speaking of Marvin Musquin, he's got one heck of a scooter to cruise the pits on.

How the Red Bull KTM team reminds their riders to put their LITPros on.

Marvin Musquin was second in 450 qualifying.

Yikes...c'mon, hang in there, boot...

A look at WP's latest Trax shock design, check out the high and low speed rebound adjuster.

A view at the top, with the high and low speed compression adjusters...along with a plug at the top which is used when bleeding the shock.

The JGR crew added some netting to combat the sand of Daytona.

Malcolm Stewart is still with the BFRC this weekend. According to the team it does a few things better than the standard shock they use and a few things worse. Overall, Malcolm is happy to run the shock and helping the team develop settings/learn more about the system.

The marker on top is the decibel it ran through testing and what round it was tested at.

Keep an eye on this section tonight. Most riders have been hitting it as sort of an on/off, but the hump in the middle is really small, and you'd better not miss it. A few riders have been hitting it as a triple, clearing the middle section entirely, but there's a dragonback and corner right after it, so you have to do it mistake-free...or else.

Weston Peick muscling his way through the whoops.

Jimmy Decotis must be looking for some extra traction, see the gripped material added along the airbox, sideplate, and radiator shroud?

Turn baby, turn. Jimmy runs his front end low...

Both of JGR's East coast riders are a tad bit height challenged, so their bikes feature 12mm raised footpegs, done through the mounting area to the peg cleat itself.

We also noticed some differences between Decotis and Peters bikes, as Decotis is running a stock link and bell crank like Justin Hill is out West these days.

While Kyle Peters runs the in-house made JGR link and bell arm.

Jimmy DeCotis went down in the first turn in the final practice. We're guessing that this is him popping his shoulder back in.

No matter, he was back to hammering through the whoops right after that.

Zach Osborne working over his mouthguard before heading out onto the track.

There's a bunch of new Fly gear color combos on the track already, and there will be a bunch more for tonight. Here's Michael Mosiman (who had a hard crash during practice).

Justin Brayton has some new red/white/blue gear.

Blake Baggett has a black/gray combo. Also, he hurt the same thumb that he injured last summer in Atlanta...but it's a different section of the same thumb. He looks good here, though.

It's always cool to come to Daytona and check out the stadium setting.

The transponder mount on Jason Anderson's bike might not be the prettiest one in the pits, but, "This is a race dog, not a show dog."

Little comparison of Jason Anderson and Wilson's bike...Anderson has an old school plain grip cover.

Dean Wilson on the other hand has a more common pleated cover.

The Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha guys aren't sure yet who'll have on the bikes for next weekend (as both Dylan Ferrandis and Colt Nichols are both hurt and will be out for some time), but the team will find someone to ride for them by next week. Yeah, Wil Hahn is one option, though he'd have to go through an appeals process to be available as a 250 rider.

Cooper Webb has made the switch to hydraulics for the first time on a race weekend. utilizing this all-in-one slave cylinder and front sprocket guard made by Rinaldi in Europe for their GP team.

While the master cylinder is a Brembo unit, like the ones found stock on the KTM/Huskies.

Wow, tight clearance on the shock and frame there...

Justin Barcia's currently parked bike has an aluminum fuel tank...

While Webb's has a plastic one.

Cooper Webb with his bodyguards.

There's a little tiny person in the dog house.

Hey, 22nd qualifier, your gate is ready...(This was fixed before the races started.)

After Justin Brayton's win last weekend, we saw a couple question how factory vs production his bike really is. The machine is built by MCR and the mechanics, with their engine guy XPR involved and their usual suppliers. There's only really two unique, hard to get parts on Brayton's bike. One is the Showa works suspension, while Friese and Weimer are on kit KYB...

And the works Nissin front brake caliper that Honda has hooked him up with.

Gotta trim the weight where you can, even graphics add a little.

The Dunge has been hanging around the races and his buddy Marvin Musquin lately.

When Team Green isn't discussing Suzuki RM-Z450s and carbon fiber on the forum, he's at the races doing a little cleanup duty on Jason Anderson's helmet.

Speaking of Manny and carbon...this CDG carbon protector for the KTM clutch and brake reservoirs (shown here on Benny Bloss' Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/KTM/WPS bikes) is one of the cleaner setups that we've seen. They'll be available for sale soon.

Ricky Carmichael and Jeff Emig checking out the track during practice. This design is a lot more open than some of the twisty-windy sections from previous years.

Malcolm Stewart nearly always looks like he's having a good time at the track.

Get well soon to Cole Martinez, who suffered a tibia plateau break in qualifying today. His crash was big enough, it broke the stock carbon composite subframe.

His teammate, Justin Starling, is taking another shot at the 450 class aboard his 250F, which he qualified on last weekend.

The 32 will be a familiar sight under the HRC tent for the remainder of Supercross, as he will fill-in for Cole Seely/Ken Roczen. Technically, Christian Craig is aboard Ken Roczen's machine.

We noticed a down side to HRC's hydraulic slave cylinder position...it blocks the engine oil fill plug.

Sharing is caring. Last week Rich Simmons was wrenching for Christian Craig. This week it's Oscar Wirdeman.

Want a fast fill for oil changes? Use a funnel on the outer edge of the clutch basket when you have the sidecover off.

Jeremy Martin is back working with Dylon Turner, who he had a lot of success with as a trainer and coach.

RJ Hampshire railing one of the berms here. This one had sort of a hard transition at the bottom, and caused more than a few riders some grief.

Adam Cianciarulo working on his next vlog.

There are a couple sand sections here, giving the riders a chance to blow up berms.

This tribute butt patch on Austin Forkner's pants was pretty sweet.

Martin Davalos is set for the day.

Bell and Fox work well together, matching up whenever possible to keep the team looking their best.

This week they whipped up these custom helmets to fix the team's gear design.

The PC crew is well prepared to be in the garages, rolling out massive track boxes with their own lighting.

The smallest grains of sand can cause some serious problems, so Olly Stone prepares the clutch perch of Forkner's bike for the night's action with a little foam.

Last year, Adam Cianciarulo had an edge in the main event with Dunlop's MX11 sand tire and with even more sand on the track, the team is taking full advantage by equipping both Davalos and Forkner with the rears.

Kyle Cunningham's WP-Showa conversion shock has a new addition this week...

With some KYB-WP forks!

Similar to Reed's setup, it's basically KYB internals and lower legs with a WP upper tube.

Henry Miller on the other hand has a full set of WP kit suspension.

With a WP Trax shock built to fit the new chassis.

Shh...there's a new Dunlop tire or tires coming soon...

The prior rivals chatting it up on press day.

A peak at Ricky's custom Fox V3.

What do you do when you have a mouth guard in and your bored?...

Did Christian steal Jagger's toy? Nope, just a wacky wind cover for a GoPro.

Bradley Taft is back aboard the 450 this weekend, as Alex Ray continues to sit out with injury.

Cedric Soubeyras is filling in for Matt Bisceglia on the LVN100/Nut-Up Suzuki and he qualified 17th today.

GuyB getting the low-down from Jason Anderson's mechanic, Ceelo.

Canadians rejoice, Colton Faccioti is on hand to conquer his bucket list and race an AMA Supercross main event. Be interesting to see if he can pull it off.

Hmmm...little works Honda trickery with a billet Nissin caliper.

Yup, it's a Canadian Honda.

In Colton Facciotti his first crack at SX in a while, he qualified 28th. We also dig that graphics kit on his bike.

Seeing riders fly past the scoring pylons here is one of our favorite things about Daytona.

Modern bar pad foam is safer and has more energy absorption but the closed cell design is a little heavier...thus this old-school looking foam on the Geico bikes, it's lighter.


Pit Bits 2018 - Daytona
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