#WHIPITWEDNESDAY

Rider: David Vuillemin
Bike: 2004 Factory Yamaha YZ250
Photographer: MXA Archives

TWO-STROKE SPOTLIGHT: MATTHEW WESTBURY’S 2000 KAWASAKI KX250 PRO CIRCUIT/SPLITFIRE REPLICA

“Here is my 2000 Splitfire Kawasaki KX250 that I am almost done building. Thought you guys would enjoy.” –Matthew Westbury.

Editor’s Note: Please keep those submissions coming. If you would like your bike to be featured in the “Two-Stroke Spotlight,” please email me at [email protected]. All I ask is that you give a breakdown of your bike and a detailed description of the build. Please also send a few photos of your steed. By submitting your bike for the “Two-Stroke Spotlight,” you agree to release all ownership rights to the images and copy to MXA. Please don’t email me spam or try selling me Taylor Swift concert tickets or email me spam. I already celebrate T-Swizzle’s entire collective, and there will be “bad blood” if you send me junk mail. See what I did there? Happy submitting your smoker.

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THEY SAID IT | DAYTONA SUPERCROSS

Justin Brayton: “I usually struggle so bad at Daytona, like, I come to get a top 10 but today I just felt great. I cannot believe it. I’m a Supercross winner. I’m in the record books, at freaking Daytona. Are you kidding me?”

Eli Tomac: “I never gave up. I did what I could but Justin was riding great, so congrats to him. When you’re that far back all you can do is charge forward. And I was just like ‘let’s get to this podium.'”
Jordan Smith: “The track was extremely tough tonight – mentally and physically. But it’s a great feeling to be back on top. I didn’t have the start I wanted to the season but we’re getting it going now.”

Marvin Musquin: “It’s really disappointing to finish 5th tonight. I felt really good all day on my bike and I feel like we threw away a win. I had a good start and was there in 3rd but this time I tried to be smarter with my passes and it worked as I got into the lead. I was able to pull away a little until I made a big mistake, almost looped out and landed on the ground in the mechanic’s area. I then had another crash in a turn quickly after getting back on the bike, which took me a little bit of time to reset and refocus so I fought hard to come back to 5th. We are looking to get back on the podium in St. Louis.”

Jimmy Decotis: “I qualified inside the top ten for the night program and was looking forward to a good main event. Unfortunately, I had a big crash before the finish line early in the race. I have a couple fractures in my back and some broken ribs. Back injuries are scary, so I’m truly blessed with the outcome. Thanks so much to everyone at the track medical unit for taking care of me.”

“I’m extremely bummed right now. I love racing my dirt bike, and these next few weeks will be tough. I’ll see a specialist on Tuesday when I arrive back in Charlotte.

Weston Peick: “Daytona went better than expected for me. I got sick this past week, and I was obviously sore from my crash in Atlanta. I got off to a decent start in my heat race, but then got tangled up in the first turn. I charged up to third, so I was happy with that. I had a good start in the main event and rode in third place for quite a while. Then, due to being sick and sore, I fell back a few positions. Regardless, I’m happy to get some good points and head into next weekend feeling better.”

Cooper Webb: “Daytona was really good this year. It was the first time I ever raced it, but I grew up coming here as a kid to watch, so it’s pretty special to be here now in the 450 Class. Overall, it was a solid day. We did a lot of great testing this week at Justin Barcia’s house to get a great setting for here at Daytona. It was good for me to get my first overall podium especially at my first-ever Daytona, I think I was a lot closer to that top step. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year!”

Christian Craig: “I had a great week testing with the team. They came down to Florida right after last weekend and I feel like we really improved. Just getting more time on the bike and getting more comfortable was huge. I started off race day feeling really good. My qualifying position didn’t really show it, but overall I was happy with my riding. It’s all about having fun out there, and man, that’s what I did tonight. I was up front in the heat race, fell to third, but then the two guys in front took each other out so I ended up winning. You can call it luck or whatever, but I just put myself in a good position to capitalize on people’s mistakes. I had a good gate pick and some confidence going into the main. I grabbed the holeshot and led for almost the first lap, but [Justin] Brayton got by me pretty quick. I stayed second for quite a while. I just rode my hardest and did my best. Unfortunately, a couple guys got by me in the end so I ended up fourth. The track was so tough. This is only my second time racing Daytona and last year didn’t go well, so I really wanted to get some revenge this year. It’s better than the week before, but man, I was so close to a podium. I just need to keep putting myself in good positions and work on getting better each weekend.”

Austin Forkner: “I tried to run with those guys at the start and push really hard but I wasn’t able to bridge the gap,” said Forkner. “I got a little tight and had to settle back in to make sure I was hitting my lines because the track was pretty tough and changing a lot. My goal has been to be consistent and I’ve been able to do that the past few races, putting me in a good position with the points.”

MOTO | TRIVIA

Name the rider and year. Answer at bottom of page.

PRO CIRCUIT TEAM RIDER APPAREL

Press Release: Support the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team riders with our new signature snapback hats and rider tees. For the ones who want to accessorize, choose between a Joey Savatgy, Martin Davalos, Austin Forkner or an Adam Cianciarulo snapback. Each cap is of premium quality and comes with rider number, signature and Monster Energy and Pro Circuit logos embroidered on the front panels and wearer’s right side.

The Rider Tee, available in black or white, features a quality screen printed riders graphic on the front and a sleeve hit displaying rider names for the 2018 season. Each tee is 100% cotton/pre-shrunk from the best apparel makers in the business. Show fellow motocross fans who you’re all about with this Pro Circuit tee of Joey Savatgy, Martin Davalos, Austin Forkner and Adam Cianciarulo the next time you cruise the pits or out to dinner with friends.

WHAT THE MXA WRECKING CREW IS UP TO

Do you recognize this guy? If you do, you have been reading the pages of MXA for a few decades. And thank you if you’re one of them. This is Jack “Joe Dirt” Phinn. He used to be an MXA mini-bike tester and owned Big Mini’s when the mini bike market was hot. He has returned to riding and built a trick 2018 KTM 350SXF project bike for us to test. How did Jack get the Joe Dirt nickname? From the photo below. 

Jack’s friends started calling him “Joe Dirt” after this photo was released of him. The thumbs up look familiar?

U.S TM importer, Ralf Schmidt got his 1995 TM 250 up and running for us to ride. And yes, hot pink was the original TM color back them. He also made us a 2018 version to compare the two bikes that are 23 years apart. 

Ralf’s 2018 TM 250 pink version. 

CLASSIC PHOTO

This is the cover of the 1993 August issue of MXA. We were surprised that the cover-all shrouds did not become the look of tomorrow’s motocross bikes.

Moto Trivia answer: David Bailey 1985