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2005 broke my leg real bad, and had already caught the Supermoto bug pretty bad. That same year we supported a kid out of my dads shop on a KTM525 in the AMA SM series and he did really good.
The next year we managed to talk the Husaberg distributor to support a team featuring him out of our shop and get a "demo" bike for me. He was a top 5 guy, I made 7 out of 10 mains in the Unlimited class in 06.
Fast forward to 07, I had spent too much money chasing my dream of being a "PRO" the previous year, so just focused on the local series in WI. Final round of the series at the Road America kart track, I need to finish ahead of a friendly rival in both heats to tie for the championship. I beat him by a couple bike lengths the first heat. The 2nd heat, as I crossed the finish line I looked down under my right arm to see his orange fender almost touching my armpit! It was an awesome end to a really fun season (he won the championship on tie breakers for more wins).
When we coasted back toward the podium for post race interviews my Berg stalled which doesn't seem significant, but it always idled perfectly. After the interview it was time for the dash for cash, bike wouldn't restart no matter what. Just decided: End of the season, let's have a beer!
Tore the bike down a couple weeks later and:
One of the many quirky designs on the Bergs was that the air filter is on the backbone of the frame. The crankcase breather also vents to the frame. When this piston cracked, the cc pressure went thru the roof and blew a bunch of oil into the carb causing it to stall at idle. The crack goes all the way across the crown and is almost to the pin, not sure how many more laps I had under power before it would have come apart completely...
Mid way through 06 I had put in a hi-comp piston that my team-mate had laying around. You can really see a difference in structure between the stock and hi-comp units.
The Shop
I raced NHHA so 40 mile loops in the southern desert
-broke the bolt that holds the top of the subframe in, also sheared off and lost a bolt holding the lower subframe in, all without crashing. silencer and airboot held it all on as the seat bounced up into me continuously for about 7 miles. Got to the pits and grabbed another top bolt from my van and screwed it in as much as possible, and added the duct tape. Raced it for another 40 miles before finishing and finally being able to figure out what went wrong.
Another race, 1/2 mile in, Brabec passed me off trail going side hill and slightly hit my front wheel. Everything was good until we went down a hill and I had no front brake. Somehow the front brake banjo bolt got hit. loosened up from the contact, and drained all the fluid. Fun times for 40 miles with no front brake and quite a few high speed fire roads! Refilled the line, bled the brake real quick, and back onto the race
Have also lost 4 pins for my stabilizer without the stabilizer coming off while riding, neither myself nor Scotts has been able to figure that one out..
Good times!
Fast forward, job complete and the bike was started and ran like a dream. The mechanic warmed the bike up good and put it in first gear, he let the clutch out and promptly went over the bars and hit the ground in front of us.
The motor ran in reverse. First and only time I've seen it happen.
2. Transmission exploded in section of whoops...complete transmission was destroyed
3. Engine started making a loud growling noise...removed head...piston wrist pin was broke in 2 .. still ran.
2008 YZ250 2T
1. Wicked air leak..could not find it.. soon as you touched the throttle the rpms just hit the ceiling.
Leak down test, showed the main bearing pocket behind stator was cracked completely around the
Main bearing. The bike did have around 100-150hrs on it.
Went back to Honda’s......
WTF?
The Inside Line book
Roost/objects hitting the petcock lever and shutting it off happens more than we think. This is why some OEMs use to mount the petcock with the lever facing inwards.
One particular KFX 90 (kids quad) I worked on kept filling the crankcase with fuel as it sat overnight. I bet I had that carb on/off and completely disassembled a dozen times and tried 3 different carb rebuild kits. I could find nothing wrong with the carb it looked perfect inside and out and was basically a new machine. I quickly grew to resent that little machine. We eventually requested a new OEM carb from Kawasaki under warranty and the replacement carb solved the issue.
Triple, noticed a weird feeling in the rear end and pulled off. The rear axle snapped dead in half inside the rear hub, no wear marks or anything to lead to the reason why.
Threw a new axle in it and got to almost 250+ hours on a stock piston with just valve adjustments till she finally dropped a valve and grenaded at the local sand track Loved that bike. Got my money’s worth
Pit Row
Crash course (no pun intended) of learning on the job training in the worst way. 😳😁👏
suzuki made good on it.
Came over the finish line in first and pulled straight over. the engine had spat a con-rod out the side of the block and there was a football sized hole looking straight into the crank/sump area 😝
Riding a stock 12 ktm 250f and the ruts were so deep that they managed to dislodge the stock oil cap. Somehow I was unable to determine that hot oil was covering my pants / boots, nor clue in to the fact that my dad was questioning the smoke coming from the bike as I went by. Finished the moto. Luckily the thing didn't grenade, just fried the clutch.
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