Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128130
As if merely riding those heroes' factory Yoshimura Suzuki DR-Z400 and Pro Circuit Kawasaki KX250 weren't enough, race officials Jeff Phillips and Dave Hamel arranged for ideal conditions, with rain watering the Roseburg area for several days before clearing on Friday and allowing the sun to caress the stellar, varied, dustfree, eight-mile circuit on race day. So, were our boys satisfied with such lavish treatment? Hey, whatever works. By KIT PALMER K iedrowski's number-12 Yoshimura DR-Z430 wasn't good. It was better than good. I found out early in the race that Kiedrowski's DR-Z was a lot easier to ride than I had expected. For some reason, I was expecting the mammoth-looking machine to be a handful. I had visions of myself struggling to control the bike's explosive motor on the tight slick trails. I figured I'd probably stall the highly tweaked motor at least once or twice. I presumed the bike would just wear me out. Boy, was I wrong. I guess my biggest concern was the motor, but what I thought was going to be a somewhat hard-hitting thumper, ala WR426F, was to my relief a very easy to control engine. The powerband was electric-smooth, and there was plenty of power at both ends. But what got me smiling was the ultra-linear powerband, and that's exactly what Kiedrowski was looking for. "Getting power out of the DR was no problem," Kiedrowski told me. "Once, we tried a 436cc [4mm larger piston], but that turned out to be just too much, and the bike just wouldn't hook up. The power came on too hard. That's why we settled for a 430 and did extensive testing getting the powerband to be smooth." They basically accomplished that could simply pick and choose my top complaints with the stock DR-Z throttle settings without worry of the was that it didn't rev out far enough leaving the bore alone, which resulted power suddenly coming on and the for him. in Kiedrowski's desired smooth back end sliding out. And it was. Yoshimura installed a high-rev kit (cam, springs and black box), which gives the DR-Z roughly 1000 more rpm, 11,200 all told (stock is roughly 10,000 - on a good day). Now, the bike definitely revs out; only on a few occasions - usually up a long, loamy uphill with Chris' KX glued to my rear fender - did I wish for more revs. by increasing the stroke 5mm but "I'd come out of a turn and the powerband. And I can certainly say There were many other sections thing would run out of revs, start bur- that it is smooth - CRF450R smooth. that were fast, fast, fast, and the DR-Z bling before I could even get my foot There were many sections in the Ore- had the revs to get me to the end of back on the peg," Kiedrowski said. "I gon WORCS race where the wet, those sections and back into the knew that had to be taken care of muddy ground was greasy-slick, but I turns, quickly. One of Kiedrowski's right away." cue I e n e _ so • NOVEMBER 14,2001 19