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/917325
VOL. 54 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 19, 2017 P137 Days, riding with Taylor [Robert]; watching videos of Taylor riding and stuff—he's very smooth and precise and upshifts and is up a gear high in stuff. So, it's just over the years I've been trying to adapt to smooth myself out a little bit. Everybody has their own ways. Is going super smooth and upshifting always the right way? Maybe for that person, but for me, I might hammer it really hard. But that comes back to keeping the bikes together. I used to be really hard on bikes as far as breaking stuff during races. So, one of my mental- ity things was you can't win the race if you break. So, I had to change my riding style up a lot and try and salvage the bike for these long races. "That was a huge thing [switching to Yamaha]. That's what Ron was asking: 'why Yamaha?' First off, the bikes are bulletproof. This year I raced bone-stock Yamahas all year. I never touched the motor once. I never put a piston in it; as far as trying to make them faster, trying to change cams, I didn't mess with it. Every championship I won was on an exact bike you could go buy." Sutherlin had choices, too: YZ, WR or FX 450cc Yamahas. "I started the year out all on FXs, and then Havasu we had a fuel pump/wiring harness issue. So, I ended up borrowing Destry's YZ and I was like, 'oh man.' The tranny was way better for moto scenarios, so I ended up switch- ing about halfway through the season and running YZs the rest of the season at WORCS, and then I ran an FX in the desert. The big thing is the transmission. First and second gears on the FX are really tight, and there's a huge gap from second to third. So, in the desert it actually works pretty well, because I'm in second gear in the rocks a lot. But for moto, second is so tight and there's such a gap to third; when you go from second to third there's a bog in there. It just won't carry the rpm. So, that's when I chose to ride the YZ." Even though WORCS and hare and hounds are two very different types of riding, Sutherlin says his bikes are set up fairly similar. "Ty Davis has been doing my suspension all year. It's been really good because I'm known for somebody who's picky about suspension. So, what's good about Ty is, he's a guy that is still a phenomenal rider. He still rips. So, we go out to test and I say, 'Hey, Ty, this is what's going on.' He'll make a change and I'll go, 'man, it's still doing it.' He goes, 'How is that possible? I changed these shims.' So, he'll jump on the bike and go, 'Oh, wow, it's still doing exactly what it was.' So, that's what's good with Ty as far as communicating—working with somebody and them being able to feel what you're feeling is huge. But as far as overall setup goes, I ran a pretty much WORCS/moto setup for most, even the hare and hounds. My bikes were pretty similar, which is kind of crazy. I actually ran the first WORCS race on the FX. IMS makes a 2.5 [gallon] tank for the FX, and a 2.9 tank for the Ricky Brabec handed over the number-one plate to Sutherlin.