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Edited Date/Time
2/3/2020 4:08am
Any inside info?
Unusual to see the big bikes fail these days, particularly at SX where the motor isn't getting such a hammering. I was wondering if anyone was in the pits and got word about what went wrong?
Did they swap a motor? If so, how long did it take and how many men were on it (if you were there?)
Unusual to see the big bikes fail these days, particularly at SX where the motor isn't getting such a hammering. I was wondering if anyone was in the pits and got word about what went wrong?
Did they swap a motor? If so, how long did it take and how many men were on it (if you were there?)
Ghost
The Shop
Got to like Justin's heart too. Running the bike back so they could get started on it.
I hope he gets back on the podium soon to keep making this championship interesting.
That said, thats the first YZF motor I remember him blowing, so they've been pretty durable up to now.
Maybe Yamaha raised the Rev limit trying to get a bit more out of it for him, but failed?
That's pretty amazing.
Pit Row
"stock" to a factory team simply means they aren't on a full blown mod motor trying to squeeze every bit of power they can.
The fact that Dan Crower is posting a picture of one his valves tells you everything you need to know about his motor program.
What do you mean that shot tells us everything we need to know about Crower's engine program?
That said to bend up like this it had to have been quite far down in to the bore. More than 'normal' opening?
Yamaha signed Barcia back in, what 2017? He's always rode with that style and Yamaha knew that when they signed him. Yamaha's bike was/is notoriously strong down low and equally powerful through the rest, but not necessarily made to live in the upper end of the RPM range. Thus, the chassis was developed to handle well not on the top end. For over 2 years now, Barcia has been trying to perfect a slightly different riding style lower in the power range. His results have reflected that, in my opinion. It appeared Yamaha was more rigid on making him adapt to the "base" package as opposed to changing the bike to fit his famous riding style until the start of this season.
Yamaha & Barcia have been very vocal about changes to the bike this year to allow him to ride the bike his most natural way....in the upper end. His speed and ability to move forward in a main this year have been noticeably stronger than the past 2 years, and it's because Yamaha has made engine changes that can support that riding style.
If Dan has his valves, it means he is doing head work for Factory Yamaha. At a minimum, they are using him for valves and likely cam & piston development, but I wouldn't be surprised if Crower was doing complete head assemblies for them. Crower is infamous for making some screamer bikes. Factory Yamaha probably does the from the cylinder down.
Barcia needed a new head to make that bike and his riding come alive. I'm sure Yamaha and Crower are still tweaking things as they gain experience. That huge jump into the sand this weekend that caused simultaneous compression of the suspension and loss of speed, landing wide open lap after lap, places a huge load on that motor...talking peak loading scenarios over short durations of time. It's a scenario they probably didn't test for yet and it might have exposed a weakness in the motor they haven't solved yet. Cuz remember, to get em to spin higher and faster means lighter rotating mass and increased compression.
I'm happy to see Yamaha invested the extra money this year to make the bike work for him. I want to see him stay strong with his old riding style and challenge these guys for podiums and wins. I expect to see Barcia turn it up out East when they get in better dirt that ruts up where his new package is going to shine. We got a glimpse of it at St. Louis where he was fast all day, qualifying 5th, and then rode great to a 2nd place finish in the main while keeping Roczen to less than 5 seconds.
Post a reply to: What happened to Barcia's YZF?