Summer School — Bike Testing — Keefer Inc. Testing

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Summer School

2018 Yamaha YZ65 Update (Summer School Assignment)

Dustyn Davis is the son of 1990 AMA Supercross 125cc West Region Champion, 1995 and 1999 AMA National Enduro Champion, 1997, 1998 and 2002 AMA National Hare & Hound Champion Ty Davis. Dustyn is a little high desert ripper that is guided by his talented father and has been racing our 2018 Yamaha YZ65 test bike for a few months now. We wanted to give him some "Summer School" homework, so we decided to have him write something about the Yamaha at each race he has entered. Here is what Dustyn had on his homework sheet.

 

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Race Report
Cedar City, UT WORCS 5/25/2018, Milestone MX Park, CA - AME Minicross 5/26/2018 Glen Helen, CA., Transworld MX 6/3/2018 Mammoth, CA - Mx Park 6/18/2018

For all of these races the I entered in the 2019 Yamaha YZ65 ran great. The suspension was so much better after my dad put a softer rear spring on it. The YZ65 was still very fast even after racing these races after putting at least 20 hours on it. One thing that kind of bothered me about the bike is that it is a little small with stock bars. Everything else felt really good though.

 

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WORCS Cedar City, Utah
I finished 3rd at the track in Utah. It was a fast track, but it was also rough. I had a lot of fun racing on the track. I like how stable the Yamaha is when I am wide open down some of the rough roads that WORCS has us race down. 

 

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Milestone AME Minicross Riverside, Californa


Tony Alessi put on this Minicross event and it was fun. It was a lot like Supercross, but also different because it was not inside a stadium. I got a 3rd and a 1st which felt amazing. The Yamaha made all the jumps from the corners without a problem, but I found out I need to have my dad work with me on my jumping skills. I am still learning how to jump, but the YZ65 gives me confidence because I know the motor is fast. I also like the suspension because I could soak up the small chatter bumps that fired on the tight track. 

 

Transworld MX Glen Helen, California


Transworld was also a lot of fun because we race up and down the hills. There was a lot of fast kids there, but I like competition. It was a wide-open course and really rutted up which made it feel even more exciting and challenging. I like how the Yamaha can be revved out going up the hills and I even made a couple passes on other bikes that seemed to be going all out. The Yamaha had more power than theirs, which helped me make easier passes. 

 

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Mammoth MX Mammoth, California 

Mammoth was the race that we all looked forward to because it is such an awesome
event. It kind of feels like we are all on a family vacation. The first few days that I was at mammoth was for my dads race. I rode my bicycle to the track for extra training on the days that I was not racing. The air is fresh, but the altitude kind of sneaks up
on you which makes it harder to breathe. It also affected the bike so we had to change the jetting and use some better fuel so the bike would run better and have more power. The fuel we used was VP Racing C- 50. We used this fuel because it had low octane that burns better for high altitude and it is oxygenated for more horsepower. I had to get used to the fast, choppy Mammoth track. I dont race motocross much so I had to get used to the big jumps. It didn’t take very long, by the end of the day I was almost clearing all of them. In my main event I was on the starting line and I gave it too much throttle and accidently looped out. Be careful kids this Yamaha is powerful! Trying to recover from a not so great start I got up to 28th place. The next race I got a better start, but throughout the race I ended up falling over at the tree turn. We did very little maintenance on the bike, which made it easy on my dad. Thanks Yamaha! We jetted the bike because of the altitude and we used a Uni air filter which helped us get more air to the motor for the high elevation. We moved the bars up to help me have more control. Yamaha makes it easy because there are so many bar adjustments. Moving the bars up helped me alot because it gave me more room and more control for going down the steep hills. I loved the bike and if I had the chance to change some things, it would only be a few minor adjustments (like the stock bars and the small brake pedal) only to fit my own personal preferences. Overall, the bike did not need any major changes that I noticed. I would recommend it to anyone from the first time rider to the experience racer. I loved racing this race and can't wait until next year. Kris asked me if I wanted to get back on my other bike anytime soon and I replied with a "heck no"! 

 

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