Project Bike: Motorsport Retro’s Kawasaki KX 250 wins on debut
Event: Heaven VMX, The Lakes MX track , Sunday 15th August 2010.
The Motorsport Retro Kawasaki 1984 KX250 went beautifully on the weekend and I was lucky enough to win first time out!
After just completing the restoration the previous weekend, I was super keen to unleash the lurid Green Machine and churn some dirt.
The Lakes MX track is the best motocross track I have ever ridden. It has great soil, incredible hills, steep berms, it is well groomed and has nice, non intimidating jumps.
I was super nervous lining up for the start of the “Pre 1985 250cc” race, but I was determined to get the holeshot. The main reason was that I brought no body armour to the track and after getting completely peppered with roost in practice, I thought if I don’t lead I’ll go backwards in onslaught of dirt and stones.
I got a good start, and was side by side with Neil Gabriel on his Yamaha YZ250 into turn one, but he passed me for the lead in a nice aggressive move in turn three or four. I could keep him within striking distance, but to be honest I don’t think I had enough to pass him. However on the second lap, his bike fouled a plug, so I inherited the lead.
For the rest of the race I had two more YZ’s buzzing on my tail and my adrenalin was surging, I had serious arm pump, a dry mouth and I was mighty pleased it was only a four lap race.
I managed to keep it all pretty tidy and started to get a feel for the Kwakas power delivery and handling characteristics and hung on to take a lucky win.
In the “Pre – 85 All Powers race (125cc, 250cc and 500cc)” I got a worse start and was annihilated by roost from those snarling two stroke 500’s, I worked my way up from about fifth to third, but could not pass a Stephen Rouse on his YZ500. We had a really good battle, I was slightly quicker in the twisty stuff, but he literally smashed me with power up the two big hills and I was happy to settle for third.
As usual the riders all had a good time and the Heaven VMX organisers put on a great event.
Thanks to Jamie, Muzz, Mitch and Raymo for getting the bike ready for the weekend. It was awesome out there. It also proves to finish first, first you must finish!
Thanks also to the Motorsport Retro Project Bike Partners
Images: Rich Fowler and Rhod McKensey
