Matt Goerke's YZ250F
Bike: Yamaha YZ250F
Rider: Matt Goerke, #53
Mechanic: Greg Zeniuk
Suspension/Motor Tuner: Brad Hoffman
Sponsors: Star Racing, Chevrolet/Chrysler, Yamaha, Lucas Oil, North County Yamaha, Tornado, Big Gun Exhaust, O'Neal Racing, Sidi, Shoei, Smith Sport Optics, Polisport, TriStar Racing, Sunline/ARC, Regina Chain, Crankworks, Vortex Racing, Dunlop, Factory Effex, Enzo, KYB, Vortex Ignitions, CV4, Lightspeed Racing, Wiseco, Ready Filter, Web Cams, VP Fuel, JD Built, GPR Stabilizer
At first sight, Matt Goerke's YZ250F looks just like you would expect it to-clean, well prepped and awfully cool. Upon arrival at Southwick, the Star Racing/Lucas Oil Products gang gave us an extensive tour of the bike. Once Goerke's mechanic Greg Zeniuk had shown us everything there was to see, I raised my hand like a curious student and asked what seemed to me to be an incredibly stupid question: "How do you say Matt's last name?" I inquired. "Grrr-key," the laughing mechanic responded. Goerke. Grrrrrrr-keeeeey. After seeing how well he has been riding lately, I think the entire motocross community might want to practice how to say that name.
After doing the same turn about 50 times for Tedesco's camera-a difficult venue to learn what any bike can do-I took Grrr-key's 250F out for a moto to see how she ran. Rolling out onto one of Moto 338's long, uphill straights, I slowly rolled on the throttle and darn near lost my grip on the bar-the top-end simply took off and ran! Backing it down a notch, I noticed that the Yamaha Factory Racing-modified engine had decent bottom, a strong midrange and a fat, almost-violent top-end that jumps into action without the slightest bit of hesitation. What surprised me the most about this setup was not that the high-rpm pull was so strong, but that the motor made the transition from mid to high in one quick, fluid shot. Obviously, the Star Racing/Lucas Oil Products team has put a lot of time into tuning Goerke's engine to get it running this smoothly and strongly, because a powerband this clean is not born overnight.
With a motor this fast, the suspension setup on the YZ250F is probably just as crucial as the jetting specs. In order to harness the sheer speed of the engine, the tuners had to find a way to make Goerke's bike rigid enough to handle such power-without shaking the poor kid to bits in the process. For this, they utilized Enzo's KYB kit suspension, which features more internal goodies than a bag of Halloween candy. Goerke's fork was particularly light in the front, blitzing through Southwick's biggest sand whoops like they weren't even there. I felt incredibly comfortable with the suspension settings right away, and though they were a little too stiff for me, the fork never did anything whacky. This, ironically, is more than I can say for me. While misjudging a braking bump the size of a Buick, I placed the YZ-F straight into a hole that could have broken a stock bike in half. To my sheer amazement, the balanced Yamaha simply ate the bump, chewed it up and spit it out like a piece of Bubble Yum. This little experience showed me just how well these bikes are set up for the grueling outdoor tracks-you can have a massive screwup and almost gain time! Another eye-catching feature on this bike is the GPR steering stabilizer, which was cranked down rather tightly compared with what most motocrossers are used to. We learned that the unit is new for this year, but that Goerke has become fond enough of the added stability to run the device at every round. The extra stiffness in the front end certainly complements the bike's high-speed tendencies, and given how well this one worked, I am surprised that more riders don't run steering dampers.
Since the bike didn't take long to adapt to, I did a few timed laps aboard the YZ250F, just for grins and giggles. According to Finley's high-end cell phone timer, I ran right around a 2:17:00 lap time that, in comparison with Brett Metcalfe's 1:53:335 hot lap, would have put me right in 39th place at the National! That is, if it were a one-lap race. I definitely didn't have more than two or three of those in me! I was stoked on how consistently Goerke's bike performed on the rough track-it's no wonder that the guy has been doing so well outdoors.
Given the hugely impressive top-end power, the stable handling characteristics and lifesaving Enzo suspension, Goerke's #53 Yamaha has got to be one of the best bikes in the Motocross Lites class. After seeing what this YZ250F can do, I have to give the Star Racing/Lucas Oil Products team huge props for putting together such a ripping bike. In fact, I am considering sending them a rsum for the 2007 National season. Hey, I may be 24 seconds a lap slower than the fastest guy out there, but at least my last name is easy to pronounce
Opinions
This motor was a top-end ripper. It was way smooth, but the build in power from the top to the upper end of the powerband was really impressive. It would put a lot of 450s to shame. It was hard to keep it there, because if I did, I was going way too fast! Other than the levers being a little too high, this bike fit me really well. I felt I could ride it really fast. The results Goerke is getting on this machine don't really surprise me. -Jimmy Lewis
Matt Goerke's bike was very comfortable and felt like one I could ride hard all day long. I am a big fan of steering stabilizers, and the trick GPR unit on this bike helped keep it very stable in the relentless Southwick whoops. The engine pulled hard all the way through and the suspension worked well. -Sean Finley