MOTOCROSS ACTION MID-WEEK REPORT

#WHIPITWEDNESDAY 

Rider: Josh Hanson
Year: 2010

TWO-STROKE SPOTLIGHT: MICHAEL FRASER’S 1995 KAWASAKI KX250

Restored 1996 Kawasaki KX250.

“My bike is a 1995 Kawasaki KX250 that I bought for $1500 and restored over the summer of 2016. I completely disassembled the bike and replaced or re-furnished everything from the ground up. I did all the work myself except for the powder coating and the suspension rebuild.”

“The frame and sub-frame were sandblasted and powder coated with Kawasaki color-matched powder. The swingarm was also blasted and powder-coated a gun metal grey color. The front and rear suspension was professionally rebuilt and re-valved by Donny Ellis at Pro-Action Suspension located in Airdrie, Canada.”

This is the model that Mike LaRocco raced in the 1995 Supercross season.

“The engine was rebuilt top and bottom and fitted with an FMF Gold Series pipe and FMF silencer. New radiators and hoses were fitted as well. The graphics, sponsor style decals and seat cover were all from Evo-Mx.com. Front and rear brake calipers and master cylinders were re-built and also fitted with new brake lines and EBC brake pads. All the frame, steering and suspension bearings were replaced with Pivot Works and All Balls Racing bearings.”

New paint, plastics, chain, sprockets, pipe and much more to make this old-dog looking new again. 

Miscellaneous parts:
Pro Taper handle bars with Emig V2 lock on grips and Cycra Racing hand guard deflectors, Hammerhead billet shift lever, Renthal sprockets with D.I.D Gold chain, Boyesen ignition cover, Acerbis plastics.

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.

INSIDE JET LAWRENCE’S FACTORY HRC HONDA CRF250

MOTO | TRIVIA

 

ROUND 10 IRONMAN NATIONAL RECAP | By Ben Bridges

450 RECAP

• Tomac goes 2-1 for his first win of the season, his 3rd consecutive win at Ironman.
• Tomac now has at least one overall win for 8 consecutive seasons in the 450 class.
• Kawasaki now has won at least 1 win in the 450 class for 6 consecutive seasons.
• Tomac is now 3rd in the points.

• Tomac now has 75 total career wins.
• Eli Tomac passed Bob Hannah for 4th place on the all-time motocross win list with 38.

Eli Tomac has passed Bob Hannah (pictured) for 4th place on the all-time motocross win list with 38.

• For the 8th time since 1974 there have been 5 different winners in the series.
• Ferrandis goes 1-2 for 2nd overall. He has 6 moto wins, 5 overall wins and 10 podiums.
• Ferrandis now has a 50-point lead with 2 rounds to go.
• Cooper Webb goes 4-3 for 3rd overall. It’s his first podium of the season.
• Webb’s last podium was in Spring Creek in 2019 when he won the overall.

• Roczen goes 3-5 for 4th overall. He’s still 2nd in the points.
• Avg Finish through Round 10 – Ferrandis 2.1, Roczen 5.0, Tomac 4.5

250 RECAP

• Jett turns on the Jets
• J. Lawrence goes 1-1 for his 3rd win of the season and takes over the points lead.

• Honda now has back-to-back wins at Ironman.
• Jett Lawrence has 6 moto wins, 3 overall wins and 7 podiums.
• J. Lawrence has an 11-point lead with 2 rounds left.
• Jo Shimoda goes 2-3 for 2nd overall, his 2nd podium of the season.
• Shimoda is 6th in the points, the only Pro Circuit Kawi rider to make the podium so far this season.
• With 2 rounds to go can the Pro Circuit Kawasaki team break their 23 race winless streak?
• Justin Cooper goes 4-4 for 3rd.

Justin Cooper lost the points lead. 

• Justin Cooper has 10 podiums, 5 moto wins, and one overall win, but now is 11 points out of 1st place.
• Jeremy Martin crashed out in moto 1, scored zero points and now is 4th in the points. He ended up breaking his wrist in the crash.
• Hunter Lawrence went 12-9 for 9th overall, but passed Jeremy Martin for 3rd in the points.
• Average finihes through ten rounds— Jett Lawrence 3.0, Justin Cooper 3.1, Hunter Lawrence 5.9

WHY GRANT LANGSTON WASN’T ANNOUNCING AT THE IRONMAN NATIONAL

THE KAWASAKI KLR650 IS BACK

 

LOST BUT NOT FORGOTTEN | JEFF EMIG’S CHAMPIONSHIP-WINNING FACTORY 1998 KX250

MXA TESTED | 2022 YAMAHA YZ450F

JIM KIMBALL INTERVIEWS RYDER DiFRANCESCO

Working and life happenings don’t give me much free time, so I used my limited time to focus on my hobby of watching Pro motocross. I generally don’t keep up with the burgeoning amateur scene, but as with Adam Cianciarulo, I have heard the name Ryder DiFrancesco for many years. The 16-year-old from Bakersfield, California has been winning races forever. In fact, last year in 2020 he won six out of six motos at the Loretta Lynns championships to take the AMA youth rider of the year award. While 2021 started out well with Ryder winning big amateur events, and continuing in March at RCSX, DiFrancesco suffered a broken femur in May which prevented him from competing at Loretta Lynns in 2021. However, he was able to return to racing in Indiana at the inaugural “Moto Combine “race where he took the overall (Moto Combine is intended to further develop amateur A and B class riders and give them a taste of AMA Pro racing). We tracked Ryder down to learn more.

By JIM KIMBALL

RYDER, HOW DOES THIS WIN COMPARE TO YOUR MANY OTHER WINS? Something special. It took coming through the traffic to get this one, so it is big. We don’t do long motos and get the opportunity to race in front of a lot of manufacturers to prove ourselves. To ride well in front of them is something important, so it is something special for sure.

HOW DIFFERENT WERE THE EXTRA FIVE MINUTES? Adding time is good. We usually do just twenty minutes, so twenty-five minutes plus two laps are a challenge. But it is going to get us ready for the next step in our journey and make us better.

CAN YOU TALK A MINUTE ABOUT YOUR SEASON AND HOW YOUR BROKEN FEMUR IMPACTED 2021? It only impacted missing Loretta’s. Obviously, I won the Spring Nationals earlier this year. I missed Freestone as I landed on my head there. The broken femur made a huge impact, but coming here and doing what I did today, going 2 -1 and winning the overall is good. This was good to remind myself that I did not lose it. I lacked on racing a little bit just because you can do as many practice laps as you want, but you can never replicate racing. Coming here and doing this is special to me.

DID THE TRACK SEEM VERY DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU ARE USED TO? Yes, I have never ridden on this big of a track before, so it was good. Obviously, the Pros go to plenty of big tracks in the AMA series. Adding five minutes plus two laps and being on a track like this is knowing where you are going to go in the future.

WILL YOU RACE THE SECOND MOTO COMBINE ROUND AT PALA? Yes, I will race at Pala. I need to get more races under my belt because I have not raced all year. So, I will do that race next weekend and then continue my journey through Oklahoma.

DO YOU HAVE A PLAN ON WHEN YOU ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO TURN PRO? That is a discussion right now. If I keep doing this, it is obviously a step in the right direction. It just depends; I need to have a good year like I did last year and not have a year like I did this year.