2019 Florida Motocross | Kickstart

These fork lugs aren't provided by KYB, but are instead ordered by GEICO Honda from a local machinist. The same supplier also makes their HRC triple clamps, with the okay of Honda, and supplies one consumer product that's on the bike. Can you guess which it is?

Boyesen waterpumps have become prevalent on the GEICO CRF250Rs, as the stock pump has a pressed-in fitting going to the hoses. This pressed-in fitting can pop out under extreme heat and pressure. So in this case, Boyesen gives them a one piece pump cover that's a bit more reliable in the extremes of the outdoors.

What's under the blue cap? A fuse, that way if the fan gets clogged the electric motor on the fan doesn't tax the rest of the electrical system on the bike so much that it cuts spark or other electronic controls. If the load gets too high, the fuse will pop and disable the fan.

A little extra heat-reflecting foil to keep temperatures away from the airbox. This could be done for a number of reasons: to protect the plastic of the airbox itself, to keep heat from damaging the various electrical components that are located inside, and to try to keep the temp in the box down so that the incoming air is just a tad cooler.

Hunter Lawrence is the only member of the GEICO team that's currently running a production link arm.

While most of the GEICO team uses Pro Taper's EVO bar, Hampshire uses the Fuzion, which gives us a better view of where the team stashes their GPS sensor.

With RJ Hampshire being the only Showa rider under the GEICO umbrella this season (the rest on KYB) and being destined to swap to a white bike next year, it'll be interesting to see if anyone takes on Showa for this team. Maybe Jo Shimoda will be the one, as he's spent last couple years with their production components in amateur racing. We'll see when Jo goes pro after Loretta's.

Air, give me air! Since sound testing is a bit more relaxed outdoors, GEICO Honda is able to open up the side panel on both sides of the bike and funnel a bit more air volume into the engine.

Joey Savatgy and Tyler Bowers continue to be the only US-based racers aboard Showa's BFRC shock. We're curious if this continues on a KX450 next year, when Savatgy departs the team and the "new guy" comes in.

Pierce Brown made his pro debut with Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM team this weekend, sort of. Due to a rule change he's still eligible to race Loretta's this year, as long as he doesn't score more than 40 points as a pro before that race. Brown in slated to line up at Mammoth this weekend and possibly RedBud the week after for a last-push before the big amateur national. After he races in the A class at LL's, he'll return for the final three nationals under the TLD KTM tent.

TLD has began playing with engine mounts again, as a few of their riders have began using carbon engine mounts like we saw on the old chassis a few years back.

Welded-on protection for the SX spec header that the other riders the TLD team are using.

Cameron McAdoo is the only rider on TLD to run the "standard" short header style from FMF.

Due to a lack of testing time on 52s and the fact he has to race LL's on his amateur bike, Pierce Brown stuck with his 48mm CV forks and KTM Powerparts triple clamps for this race.

The logistical nightmare of running a team, especially a full staffed 250 effort...

TLD utilizes WP's newest Supertrax shock, but similar to the 52mm controversy earlier this year, the validity of their shock could be questioned. The customer version of this shock uses a cast body, unlike the billet one shown here, which was passed down from Red Bull KTM last season.

Want a sano coolant recovery tank? MotoWhips has them, as pictured on Justin Starling's KX450.

Due to the 2019 KX450 shock having a larger stock compression adjuster, a few riders have had kit adjusters and 18mm shafts placed in the stock bodies to make a pseudo "A-Kit" Showa shock, especially as a cast kit body hasn't become readily available.

We noticed some small suspension differences between Hartfrant and Watanabe's bikes over at CycleTrader/Rock River Yamaha.

While enzo racing prepares and tests with each CycleTrader/Rock River Yamaha rider, the components on Watanabe's bike are supplied from Yamaha Japan and are a different spec than what we normally see in the kit suspension supplied by enzo.

Watanabe's factory supplied forks may have Kashima upper tubes, but feature a standard chrome lower tube.

This back view gives a better idea of how the factory lug looks up close. Watanabe also has a different style of Nissin front caliper than the rest of the team.

Watanabe's fork lugs may look stock but they're actually billet machined, then cleaned up to be a bit unnoticeable.

ProTaper's latest project has popped up again, as they have a starting device you can set by yourself. While riding to the gate, you can reach down and turn the dial to arm the latch system, then grab the front brake to compress the fork. Once the latch passes the ring it'll hook on its own. We watched Teasdale make easy work of the system while practicing starts early in the day.

Dean Wilson should be making his return at RedBud and a race bike is on the truck waiting for him. We've noticed at local tracks in California that Dean has been riding with WP's latest kit version of their 48mm CV forks and their Supertrax shock, and by the looks of things here that'll be what he races when he lines up...

With the 48mm CV forks, Dean is the only factory KTM/Husqvarna rider we've recently noticed on the smaller "production" sized front axle, since these are how these forks are sold to the public.

While GEICO Honda is actually Factory Connection Racing, the majority of the team suspension duties are handled by KYB or Showa staff, along with a team's internal technician.

While the suspension reels are nothing new, they're still cool to look at each time they're applied. GEICO sent three of their four riders out with them during timed qualifying, but removed them before race time.

Paddle tires were a must this weekend. Afew riders switched back to a traditional loam/intermediate tire for the second motos when the track firmed up, but most ran the paddle all weekend.

Some think the presence of an O2 sensor on the header pipe indicates a "closed loop system" where the bike can adjust and "think" for itself. However, this is not the case because the ECUs don't have the computing power nor parameters to make those kinds of adjustments. It's strictly another way to collect usable data.

AIM is popular in Kart racing for their data systems and it has been the backbone of the GEICO team's data collection for years now...but we're starting to see it pop up elsewhere.

Alex Martin stood out a bit this week with some understated but cool in the heat Answer gear. Note the mesh material that goes down the side of the torso.

It was interesting to see Alex Martin heading out in SCOTT's Hustle goggle, instead of the top-of-the-line PROSPECT. John Knowles tells us that it's all based on rider preference and that some riders like the feel of the smaller frame in their helmet eyeport. It's cool to see that the company gives riders an option, instead of pushing the "latest and greatest" on everyone. If you like a smaller style goggle but would like to have the safety benefits of the PROSPECT lens, there might be something for you in the works soon...

Jerry, Jerry, Jerry! While battling with Alex Martin for a top-10 spot in Moto Two, Jerry Robin landed so hard off a jump that his front brake hose slid up in its holder and bound up, causing the brakes to randomly fluctuate and squeeze the caliper.

Showa and KYB...mortal enemies or good chums?

Ronnie Renner has called Florida home for a few years now and made an appearance this weekend.

The VVIP section included your own private air conditioned suite with viewing deck, television, and drinks. We were a bit jealous and have to think that more tracks will add this sort of option to their ticket offerings in the future.

Practically every team had a fan setup of some sort to keep air flowing when sand packed the radiators.

Japan riders have the sickest helmets, period. How many times do we have to recommend you follow COLORSdesigns on Instagram?

Tyler Bowers didn't take any chances with his color of gear in the heat, with a mostly white kit. White or black seem to be the only two options when it comes to hot weather.

Anderson's latest set of Alpinestars gear goes right along with Husqvarna's corporate colors. A-Stars has been killing it this summer and their 2020 collection will launch soon.

Benny Bloss had to make an unexpected stop mid-moto due to a clutch issue. We saw the team wrenching around on the slave cylinder and after a few moments, they sent him back out onto the track.