FEATURE:
FINKE TESTING THE WR450F
and precious seconds before it fi res.
That’s just free space for KTM and
the WR-F evens that up.
Day after day the boys swapped
shock springs, fork springs, changed
sag settings and clickers until they
got closer to a bike that felt right.
As AJ puts it, “The smallest thing
can kill a rider’s confi dence and that
means all of a sudden you’re braking
50m earlier and losing time all the
way down the track.”
The bike needs to be spot-on and
exactly what the rider wants and
needs for the best of the best to ride
this track at the sustained speeds
that they do.
Even though the triple clamps
on the WR-F have a different offset
to the 2015 YZ-F, the guys were
happy with the way they felt — a
testament to the new bike and just
how quickly they could take it from
a bush weapon to a desert racer. AJ
explained that from the initial launch
in the bush, the bike spent only one
day in the workshop before it was
ready to hit the Finke track.LOSING POUNDS
The WR-F is a little heavier than
the YZ-F but some simple changes
took a lot of weight off the bike. The
titanium motocross muffl er was
fi tted and the heavy lead battery
was replaced with a lithium battery
which withstood the heat perfectly.
The speedo is removed and the
Barkbusters are replaced with open
handguards as the team gets close
to taking about fi ve kilos off the
WR-F. The only object of notableweight that was added to the bike is
a steering damper.
As the week closed, the guys had
taken a stock WR-F and put together
a bike that both riders were super
pumped on. They loved the 2015 YZ-F
but the WR-F is every bit the racer
they had hoped. With some work on
springs and valving, a little weight
loss and a change of gearing from
13/50 to 15/50, they had built the bike
they hope to win Finke on this year.GAME ON IN
THE SANDS
From my point of view, what I saw
was impressive on a number of
levels. Everything was done at 100
per cent. Risks were taken but the
boys never backed off. They weren’t
interested in taking on a bike they
weren’t happy with to help Yamaha
sell more. They love the YZ-F and
this had to be an impressive bike to
get them off the motocross machine.
And these guys are honest whether
I’m around or not. If they don’t like
something they’ll tell you. And they’ll
elaborate on it.
These guys fl ogged the bike to the
point where I thought someone could
get hurt bad if the bike wasn’t up to
it. There were some solid sideways
moments but the guys pushed and
pushed and it all came together. It
wasn’t a complete unknown given its
close relation to the YZ-F, but I learnt
that Finke is a game of seconds and
inches as much as any other racing
and they worked to make sure the
WR-F would gain them ground and
get them closer to the win.