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sometimes a sacrifice when adding low-end grunt, but pulls at least as well as it did stock. This bike is a berm-buster. Not only that, but if you happen to mess a corner up before a decent-sized hit (which would take a serious mistake on the rider's part with the KX's natural turning ability), all you have to do is grab the gas and tap the clutch, and chances are you'll launch into orbit and clear the obstacle. It's really that easy, although less experienced riders may have a hard time with the brutish power delivery - this bike isn't for beginners. Beginners should be perfectly happy with a mostly stock 250 with maybe the only necessary mods being bars and a skid plate. The gearing does feel slightly shorter than stock, as you move through the gears quickly, but that may have as much to do with the added power as it does with the oversized cogs. Of course, it's rarely smart to do engine work and then leave the stock suspenders. With the added power, you need suspension to handle it. Although the stock springs were perfectly fine, Performance Factory revalved both the forks and the shoc's in order to handle both the additional horses and the more advanced obstacles the bike would now be capable of tackling. As I said before, Hanes also added oil to the forks for added rigidity. Now the bike works really well and has an all-around balanced feeling, which does nothing but improve the bike's handling even .more. Actually, Hanes liked the KX so much that he sold his shop YZ250 (which, previously, he swore by) and invested in a KX250 of his own. I didn't replace the triple clamps, because the stockers work fine and the steering geometry feels perfect. I didn't install the common frame guards and such, because in my opinion all that does is add weight - even If the frame guards are super-trick carbon-fiber pieces, they add weight to the motorcycle, and for what? To help the frame keep its paint? It's not worth it. I didn't even install a carbon-fiber skid plate, as the alum.inum unit works just as well (or better) with barely more weight. Basically, if it didn't help the bike's perfonmance in some way, it didn't find a spot on the machine. OVeliall, I feel that this bike would perform competitively at nearly any level under the right rider, and for that matter, the work is comparable to any of the more-famous hop-up shops for less money. Not only that, but even with the shipping time, the turnaround at Performance Factory is unmatched. And if you are accustomed to shipping your bikes across the country from points east to the SoCal M.X epicenter, maybe you should just save yourself some time and shipping dollars by having Brown stop short in Texas for the same work. CN Carmichael Pastrana Sellards Ferry Brown Tortelli laRocco Reed Dowd Langston Lamson Vuillemin Lusk Reynard Crine Windham Lewis GATES OPEN Thurs. 8A.M. SUNDAY Practice ... 9:00 Qualifiers . 10:30 Races ..... 1:00 ,.~~~ o:--~__ U I I PePSI .. .=. . S. A. PARTS .. ~ V ~ UNL"."I'ED ~ .0. CAL.? L.),. ~ ~IOUICHEII ~"'~eva-r- ~ e iij ~ -''-'"'' ~ J'fi.. 'Y"!!.~JY:!:.I!.~ !3=J'1Iij'.i.~ 1,1PA ~~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ en,f!,"b.., Cif!]JiBliIJ1!2EJ FRI., SAT., & SUN. (At Gate) . . Adults $45 • Children $20 Cli/ ~I§l FMPG ---. . . r lws ~ ~ SAT. & SUN. (At Gate) Adults $35· Children $15 NO ONE DA Y FRIDA Y OR SA TURDA Y TICKETS, NO EXCEPTIONS!!! All advance tickets: subtract $5.00 for each ticket and indicate which tickets you want! Includeaself-address stamped envelope (SASE), all orders must be post-marked by June 1st or will be returned. (Please do not include camping or pit pass fees.) .. (,.yeOll Memorlol FouII_.r'oll SUNDAY ONLY (At Gate) Adults $20 • Children $10 CHILDREN AGE 6 TO 12, AGE 5 AND UNDER FREE Mail Check or Money Order & SASE to: Budds Creek Ticket Sales P.O. Box 156, Leonardtown, MD 20650 AMATEUR MOTOCROSS, STADIUM NIGHT MX AND HARE SCRAMBLES SOUTHWICK NATIONAL MOTOCROSS Southvvick, Massachusetts - Round #4 • Sunday, June 8th - Starting at 1 pm (EST) , '"1~ .- '1. ~,I'I .~ _~dexclu.;vely" OYAMAHA www.cyclenews.com Look for Live "Virtual Grandstand" Coverage All Season During the 2003 AMA I Chevy Trucks U.S. Motocross Championships Then ... Get the Full Story the Follovving VVeek in ffll.l!1Bf77:';W Issue #24 - On Sale June .... th