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I knew a really fast kid who was sponsored (free bikes/gear, not full-on pro), and he kept blowing up his bike and bragging about it in the pits afterward. I took him aside and told him the Joel Robert story, and then I simply asked him if he thought his bike sponsor was glad he was making their bike look unreliable. To my knowledge, he never blew a motor at a race again.
Eli's at a very, VERY, different level, of course, but making your bike look like an unreliable heap is bad form regardless, in my very humble opinion. You dance with your date and you treat her like she's special, even if she keeps stepping on your toes. Simple as that.
One moto, sure, the team/mechanic could have made some error but two motos in a row? No way. Especially when AC finished both motos without much issue.
As an example, think about these guys having to make their bikes last 3 hours in similar mud every year at the Gotland Grand National:
History says you can't win an outdoor championship at age 31, but Osborne is off to a great start.
History says a lot of things can't happen - until they do. Using championships in this sport as a measuring stick for what can or can't happen is not the greatest predictor. This sport is less than 50 years old, and only one guy can win a championship each year, so there just aren't a lot of data points to evaluate.
Riding full Batman in that kind of mud and expecting the same out of the bike as a dry day....that's not realistic. Back it down a notch and make it to the finish line
If it turns out it was something out of Kawasaki's and Eli's control (took in water in the airbox, broken electrical connection, etc), well that just racing luck and it happens to anyone
Pit Row
Part of being a professional racer is not just going fast, but getting the equipment to the finish line.
You take the 2nd, 5th or 15th if that’s what it’ll takes to not blow it up, and you need to be in tune enough with your bikes to know where that is.
There was a story years ago, think it was Marty Smith, racing a CR125, and said every time down this straight, it felt like it was going to blow up, so every lap He’d reach down and pull the choke to richen the fuel and keep it from blowing up. (You kids may not know what a choke is)
Point is, a rider should be able to feel the bike, can hear when it’s saying “enough,” and be able to nurse it home when you have to.
He may have been nursing it when he blew it up, who knows
I have a similar shot of Eli's bike, where it looks like the fender is close enough to the louvers that it's troweling mud into them.
in this day and age, eli should not be babying a bike to get to the finish...its 2020...this is 100% on bikes/parts. something failed and shouldn't have. Most Enduros create much worse conditions than a mudder at loretta's...that bike should of lasted. Call it what it is....a mechanical failure.
I think we could assume the only issue apart from the track condition is the riders use of the clutch.
Maybe the rider has to be more mindful of the issue.
Post a reply to: Tomac and that Kawasaki