My thoughts so far...
This bike was built at the last minute with mostly 20 year old used parts on a chassis that was designed 30 years ago..
Basically we handed the bike to Sean just barely broke in.
Even the piston and rings were used.
Sean had no practice time before hand.
We had four technical problems that were easily solved.
1. Torque the Torque One Racing shift lever higher then factory specs and loctite it.
2. Loctite the Torque One Racing rear brake lever toe piece.
3. Use Amsoil 10/40 in the gear box to eliminate clutch chatter.
4. Use 50:1 oil in the premix, not 32:1 to help with overheating and blend the C12 with 50% pump gas.
All these issues would have been manifest before hand if Sean had the time to take the bike out and ride it before the race.
Sean last raced in June with only two rides since then.
Like the rest of us at KX Guru Racing, Sean has a day job and a family.
None of us get to ride as much as we would like.
Something else to mention, in the second race, Sean got the hole shot against world class riders on factory prepped bikes.
How much money did those bikes have dumped into them?
Other then having the compression bumped a bit, and a very mild port job, the KX500 engine was mostly stock.
Just imagine what the factories could do with the KX500 platform if they wanted to.
Just image what we could do with even a modest amount of factory support.
Remember, KX Guru Racing is made up of non trained, garage mechanics, with a love of big bore 2 stroke engines.
Except for some porting tools and my Vapor Blaster (Fancy cleaning machine), we have no special tools or equipment.
Another important detail to point out is what will be done to prep this bike for the next race.
Wash the bike.
Since it is so new, re-torque the nuts and bolts.
Clean the air filter.
Lube the chain.
Check the tire pressure before the next race.
What maintenance will the big factory guys be doing to their bikes before the next race?