ATV Scene's Project MX Blaster
From first time racer, to national championship contender…
STAGE 3
Holeshot Potential
By Joe Tolle
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| After winning the 90cc championship at the Haspen Acres series in 2004, Anthony Morgan not only won his first race of the 2005 season on our project Blaster, he is well on his way to capturing the #1 plate in the Haspen Acres Blaster class for 2005. Results don’t lie |
At the races, we always run into dads who love bragging about the racing exploits of their children. A few nationals ago, we ran into a gentleman whose son had started racing this year. As inquisitive as we are, we couldn’t help inquiring about his machine setup. As nice as this dad was, and as enthusiastic as his son was, we couldn’t help walking away shaking our heads. His Blaster was another fine example of all motor and no handling. The motor was maxed out, the carb was huge, the pipe was blinging, and the entire chassis was nearly bone stock. These guys definitely need to read this article beginning to end and catch a clue if they hope to catch their competition.
If you remember, in Stage 1, we improved our machine’s handling , power, and appearance through the use of basic bolt on parts. In Stage 2, we further improved the look of our Blaster, and made its chassis and suspension motocross capable. With a good ergonomic and handling package in place, the time has arrived to pump some real power into our project Blaster. Read on and learn what it takes to make your motor competitive and save enough cash for next week's racing endeavors.
Motor Madness
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| Arriving totally assembled from Klein’s we never got a chance to visually inspect their handy work. No worries, it’s a difference that could easily be felt on the track. Check out the Hologram air scoops from Project Blaster also seen in this shot. They may not offer too much more than stock in the way of additional cooling, but they sure do look trick and offer more room for sponsor stickers. |
In 2003, Eddie Lasco took his Blaster to victory in the Youth Production class at the Loretta Lynn’s round of the GNC series. The company responsible for giving Ed the power to win was Klein's Power Sports out of Hanoverton, Ohio. With such an impressive showing, from a relatively unknown company, we decided to send our Blaster’s engine off and see how much power Klein’s could extract from the 200cc air cooled mill.
After discussing our goals with Klein’s, we decided to go with their motocross porting package. This porting is designed for good overall power with an emphasis on additional mid to top end strength. Besides porting both the intake and exhaust ports, Klein’s milled the head for greater compression. When we asked Eric Klein if we should run race gas with this motor setup, he replied, “You should always run race gas in a Blaster since it is air cooled and race gas runs cooler.” When we got our motor back, it was fully assembled just like we sent it. Of course we were unable to visually inspect the port work before installing the motor in the frame, but the track will reveal what's lurking inside.
In order to flow more fuel into the motor we had our stock carb bored to 28mm. While the motor can gain even more top end power by adding a larger aftermarket carburetor, boring the stocker out is a sweet deal at only $100 and works fine unless you’re holding it wide open constantly. To better regulate the air fuel mixture, we ditched the stock reed setup for a Boyesen Rad Valve. The Rad Valve mildly increases power and throttle response.
To finish our Stage 3 mods, we added a set of Project Blaster hologram air scoops. These are designed to direct more air over the motor for better cooling. They also add an extra bit of flair to the appearance of the machine.
Test Time
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| He might be a bit big for a Blaster, but Dale Montgomery was very impressed with the extra punch Klein’s Powersports pumped into our machine. Broad usable power is its recipe for success. |
With the amount of time since we posted Stage 2, our project Blaster has gone through some testing and a few races. For our initial test, we rounded up Dale Montgomery and Tim Gruber and went back to Earlywine’s Indoor Motocross looking to compare lap times with our visit from Stage 2. Unfortunately, the track had gone through enough changes that lap time comparisons would yield no scientific results, so it’s all up to rider impression and how competitive the machine is on race day.
Once we were inside Earlywine’s, we started our machine for a quick warm up before hitting the track. As the motor warmed the crisp throttle response was immediately evident. Dropping the shifter a notch into first gear, Dale rolled calmly onto the track and began to familiarize himself with the machine's new found power. "Out of the first turn in third gear, you immediately notice that the machine still enjoys decent low end torque," says Dale. Roll on the gas and let the RPMs raise, or slip the clutch to rapidly bring the machine onto the pipe. Compared to our piped machine in Stage 2, our newly built motor definitely packs more of a midrange punch. While you would expect the harder hitting Klein’s motor to be more difficult to ride, their motor spreads the hit over a wider RPM range making it easier to keep the machine on the pipe. On top, things keep happening, just not as quickly as they did in the midrange. If you are at the end of a long straight next to a guy with a piped stocker, he will be grabbing another gear while you still have a few revs left to carry you into the corner.
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A larger carburetor may yield a bit more power on top. For the money though,
this motor's combination of performance, readability and price make it a real
contender. When your skills demand it and your budget allows it, switching
carbs is as easy as calling Klein’s and purchasing their larger carburetor
kit pre jetted and ready to install.
Race Day
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| Dale Montgomery and Tim Gruber rode this machine from beginning to end. Besides riding Tim performed most of the mods to the machine. With the project successful, it was a job well done by all involved. |
In order to determine how competitive our Blaster is, we put it in the hands of Anthony Morgan. Anthony lives in Cleves, Ohio and won the 90cc championship at the Haspen Acres Series in 2004. While we were confident in his ability as a rider, switching machines is no easy task, especially when the one you are switching to is much larger. To make things more difficult, the 90cc production based machine Anthony raced in 2004 was fully automatic. Anthony would have to learn about manual shifting and the art of using a clutch.
After several months of getting used to the machine, Anthony showed up at Haspen in the Spring for the first round of the series. Fourteen other Blasters were on hand. They all varied in state of tune from nearly bone stock to national ready racers. We knew there would be some stiff competition for young Anthony, but that’s what we wanted to truly put our machine to the test.
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| With the extra midrange rush on tap, big jumps could easily be tackled with less run. |
What Haspen’s track lacks in technical jumping sections, it makes up for with lots of high speed turns, long straights, elevation changes and plenty of braking bumps. When the gate dropped Anthony was third heading through the first turn. As the moto progressed Anthony managed to work his way into the lead winning the first moto! Feeling confident, Anthony pulled the holeshot in the second moto. No one threatened his lead the entire race and he won again.
Throughout the rest of the season, Anthony has continued his winning ways by capturing the checkered flag at most of the races he has entered. Anthony is so confident with the machine he will be campaigning he GNC nationals in the Youth Production class for 2006. If his local racing is any indication, it looks like our project Blaster will be trophy hunting at the nationals next year.
In Closing
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| A Boyesen Rad Valve was installed for a bit more overall power and superior throttle response. This component works great for both piped stockers but it’s a must have for built motors. |
We did it! By starting with basic bolt-ons, adding the suspension and chassis mods and finishing by building the motor we built a machine that went from bone stock to race winner. If we could go back and add anything, we would add hydraulic disc brakes. Of course, that is if you don’t have one of the newer models that come with them stock.
We selected each contributing aftermarket parts based upon price. After all, our goal right from the start with Project Blaster was to build a competitive machine without spending a fortune. All of the contributing aftermarket products turned out to be as good if not better than advertised. Results don’t lie. Hopefully we've helped you make Yamaha's Blaster more worthy for the track.
STAGE 1:
STAGE 2
STAGE 3
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