Yamaha YZ250FX Part 10

This weekend marks the opening round of the 2017 AMA Dist 36 Cross Country series and the AMA National Western Hare Scrambles Championship all being held at the Prairie City OHV Park (Home of the Hangtown National Motocross) outside of Sacramento CA

Prairie City is the site of nineteenth century gold mining using dredges that left piles of rocks behind. It was also a site where Aero Jet tested rocket engines used in the going to the moon projects. On the best of days the park is rock piles with a little dirt scattered in.

One year I was almost disqualified because I was riding at the edge of the 25 foot wide markers that mark the course when I was accidently kicked outside a marker because I hit some rocks. On the other side of that marker were more rocks and some star thistle that I ran over. The park rangers didn’t like that, I guess they thought I was going to harm the rocks and star thistle.

This year we’ve had a lot of rain and the course could be very slippery (wet rocks tend to do that) lots of mud and water holes. With rain expected to continue it will be interesting to see if the rangers allow the race to go on. After all there are rocks and star thistle to protect, oh and bushes too.

But if it does end up going on my trusty Yamaha YZ250/290FX will be ready. Since my last report I’ve only put a handful of hours on it, been working on my Huskyama. I did race it in the fall race at Prairie City and had some issues, the motor would just quit in the tight stuff. I ended up having to pull the clutch in the tight corners a real pain in the ass. I had Roseville Yamaha check the valves, install a new plug, clean the injector and reset the TPS to a little richer setting. That seems to have cleared up the problem.

I’ve noticed the last year or so there are a lot more blue bikes at the races. A lot more Yamaha 250FX’s the new 250 wide ratio two stroke and some 450FX’s. There are also a lot of Husky’s now so it’s not completely the sea of orange it used to be. 

21J