Vital MX Pit Bits: 2018 Las Vegas Supercross 1

It's the Supercross finale for the season but there's still plenty to see on track and in the pits!

It's the big one, we're all in and it's time to wrap this thing up! Check out Pit Bits from Las Vegas.

The AutoTrader.com/Yoshimura/JGR Suzuki was the only factory level team to go all-out on their Vegas graphics scheme.

Along with bringing a black carbon fiber tank guard to go with their flat-black look.

These days, laptops are nearly a requirement to keep these bikes in top shape.

Justin Brayton was looking pretty psyched at the announcement that he'd signed another two year deal with the support of Honda and the MotoConcepts Racing team. We've heard that he's also been helping Honda with critiquing what he he likes about the MCR Honda, and the factory bike.

Reedy's all in.

Jeremy Martin is a few tenths off of Zach Osborne's fast time for the East riders.

It's fortunate that Aaron Plessinger is awesome as a Supercross and motocross athlete, because he's terrible at paddleball.

Bob from ARC had a few goodies to bring over to the GEICO Honda team.

One of the items he had was a full bell crank and link arm for the CRF150R that the GEICO team uses in the amateurs. Outside of changing the ratio, it's a big weight loss as the stock part is made from iron...not steel or aluminum...IRON.

Due to a fairly aggressive spring rate, the little parts were quite beefy to take on the forces at play.

The team was also taking delivery of some new parts for outdoors, such as custom radiators with multiple points to monitor the coolant temps. With this being the first year for this all-new CRF250R engine, data collection importance is at an all time high.

Here's one of the sensors in place, along with some heat tape material...since the CRF250R has head pipes under the tanks on both sides.

Due to the dual head pipes, the team is doing some work with custom radiators to keep things cool this summer.

So why are the CRF250R and CRF450R race team seats so propped up?

Simple, these rubber pads to protect the thin-layered titanium fuel tank.

We noticed some spacers in the HRC clamps for Sexton, as the KYB forks he uses have a smaller diameter than the works Showa forks these clamps were originally made for.

How many laptops does it take?

Small switch up, as Derek Dwyer takes over the wrenching duties for Jeremy Martin. J-Mart's long time mechanic Richard "Pedro" Sterling is going in-house as an engine guy.

Team matching lap timers...fancy...

Tyler Bowers switched things up a bit, racing the last couple weekends on the Showa BFRC shock.

We also noticed Bowers had something plain onboard...instead of titanium bolts for his engine mounts the Factory Kawasaki team has him on the stock steel hardware. Tyler seems to prefer the feel, as it's a bit less "rigid" with these bolts in place.

Nice little reminder on how great this season has been for Justin Brayton.

Interesting little thing, Brayton's X-Trig clamps us a pressed in stem, using stock hardware to retain the clamps.

While Weimer/Friese's bikes use the X-Trig clamps with a adjustable stem and their own hardware.

Little extra flare to Anderson's red plate this weekend.

Can Jason Anderson wrap up the 450 crown? He should, as long as he avoids unexpected craziness like we saw last weekend.

Join Aaron Plessinger on track walk...with his snapchat glasses.

The Scott guys had some new goggles this weekend.

Check out the "Mojave" goggle, released today.

The Fox guys go the extra mile for their athletes.

The PC squad keeps things quicker to check over by swapping the seat bolts from 10mm heads to 8mm, so the mechanics can easily check over the bike between races.

Hmmm...steel hardware on Pro Circuit's triple clamps?

Every ounce counts, as the Star Racing team even drills out the chain rollers.

As per usual, the track here is pretty hardpacked (check the lines up the face of the jump behind Justin Barcia). But there are also some soft and rutted sections, and you can tell that they're trying to keep it wet and not like the dustbowl that was the race in Salt Lake City.

The Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM crew have some pretty sweet jerseys. The silver/gold ones were for daytime, and they'll be all gold for the night's action.

The 100% crew have custom goggle for their riders this weekend.

Yes, Hanny's here (mostly for sponsor photo shoots, but unfortunately he's not racing.

The Traders Racing Yamahas are quite different this week, with a matte black and gold finish. They're not planning to do the whole summer tour, but will concentrate on Loretta's qualifiers (and the championships in Hurricane Mills) for their amateur crew, and also a six-pack or so of East Nationals.

Closer look...

Black-out with some chips and cards theme for the AJE Motorsports team.

Some of the A-Stars riders have gold and silver boots, which are painted just for this round...thus the flaking after a bit of use.

The 32 will be under the HRC tent all summer...but the rider will have a change in appearance come Hangtown...

The HRC 450s have a Yoshimura head pipe with an extra section. The production systems have the head pipe and Y split all as one piece, while the race system is two different sections. This makes it easier for the team to swap just the head pipe in case of damage, as it can't be removed without the cans coming off if it's one piece.

A glimpse at how the Honda HRC team blocks off the standard clutch actuation rod from the cable clutch, when going to a hydraulic system.

The Red Bull KTM team normally doesn't participate with Vegas graphics, but this year they added a bit of flare with some holographic colors.

Plus Marvin Musquin got his own exhaust sleeve from Akrapovic.

Marvin's Vegas "glittered" Airoh.

Michael Akaydin's TXS Kawasaki.

Yep. Viva Las Vegas.

The Dunlop guys were plenty busy here. Their new front tire is about to be available to the public, and you'll see more on that one soon. Also, the Dunlop crew will be making the rounds to a bunch of the team shops before Hangtown, to get them set up and ease the workload at the track.

Remember the start device that we spotted on the Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha bikes a while back? Charlie Pausina is the mastermind. Dubbed the Slipshot, this unit is a damper that sits behind the clutch arm on the engine cases, and helps ease the clutch actuation. Charlie has some experience with Top Fuel clutch systems, is working to license this idea for production, and was talking with several teams here.

The JMC Motorsports crew added a bit of Vegas bling to their graphics. They'll scale down the rig for the summertime, but have a few guys in action.

Zach Osborne is hoping for a much calmer race than the season finale in Vegas last year.

While not exactly a Vegas theme, the Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/KTM/WPS bikes have a bit of a different look to them this week.

Nathan Alexander doing a bit of arts and crafts with the protective plastic for Blake Baggett's bike. He can make fast work out of cutting from the roll with this small cutter.

Yep, riders have their superstitions. We watched Benny Bloss do his helmet drop to "break in" a new Fly lid, and a screwdriver may have also been used to ensure that there was enough of a scratch in it to ensure that it was properly broken in. Don't worry, you won't see that from the nosebleed seats.

Exiting the sand section, some riders were catching a lip that allowed them to clear the final jump, and avoid a huge launch.

The IBCorp crew are already working to boost their pit presence and visibility for next year. The backdrops are new here...

The IBCorp guys are also doing a lot more activation, and were giving away a couple bikes here.

This year has a different layout to the Vegas track. Where it's normally really fast coming back into the stadium, this year it's tighter and twistier as they re-enter the stadium. Here, Blake Baggett is still on the gas just before he heads back in.

Hey, we're in Vegas. This Indian was on display in Dunlop's area, and is a bike that Carey Hart built for his wife, Pink.

Jacob Williamson is another AX/SX crossover from last night. Here he's making the launch into the sand section.

Vince Friese made a good save on this one after losing momentum through the whoops.

Hill is back for another go.

Robbie Wageman is among a small handful of guys who raced Arenacross last night, and Supercross today. This pic should give you an idea of the hard/muddy conditions.

Till next year!


Pit Bits 2018 - Las Vegas
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