Oak Ridge Post Mortem And Requiem

I accept my Loser #2 trophy and head back home, knowing it is going to be a late night.  With less than two weeks before the next race in Martinsville, VA there will be a mad scramble tearing into the motor and starting the "LI$T".  Monday morning a frantic online shopping spree to be sure.  So while my competitors are home enjoying a beer and tending to aching muscles, yours truly is up to his eyeballs in dirt, carbon, nuts, bolts and parts of Kawasaki Heavy Industries finest.

The nice thing about a single cylinder two-stroke is that they are pretty easy to work on.  I'm used to roadracing, having to care for a twin cylinder EX500 superbike and a four-cylinder FZR 489 hybrid with finicky Keihin flatslides.  The KDX is a delight compared to them.

What I find during the autopsy is anything but delightful.

Piston: shot

Head: shot

Crank: shot

Cylinder: in need of boring

Morale: wavering

Luckily I have another motor from a parts bike.  I had it running briefly last year and everything seemed basically in order.  I'm planning a cheap and dirty rebuild on it.  Run a flex hone through the bore, new piston and rings, swap over the BDK steel valves from the other cylinder and pray for the best.  After 3 events I am running 2nd in points in class with the VCHSS, not about to quit now.  The pressure is on.  Going to be close.  I may have switched genres, but one thing about racing that never changes: it's always a goddamn struggle.

An hour prior, this was a motorcycle.