As we made our way around the track, we came upon
some of Glen Helen's infamous hills. There are
many throughout the track, but the steepest and
most infamous one is “Mount St. Helen”.
While the hill is long, and definitely steep,
the biggest issue is the turn just before the
ascent. This off camber hairpin is directly at
the base of the hill. Basically, you take a sharp
left hand turn, and directly before you like a
wall stands Mount St. Helens. This obstacle presents
a unique challenge for the KFX450R because it
needs to be revved in order to make any sort of
power. I found it fastest to take the corner in
second, and scream second for as long as I could
to the base of the hill, quickly shift into third,
and hold on for dear life as it blasted up the
hillside at about 8,000 RPM.
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As Isaac Newton's law of gravity suggests, what
goes up must come down, and Mount St. Helens is
no exception. After the ascent, there is a quick
right hander followed by one of the most spectacular
views in all of motorports as you look out over
the whole Glen Helen facility, and the entire
panoramic mountain range surrounding the track
facility. By the time you look up to take in the
scenery and look back down again you are faced
with one of the most spectacular drop offs of
any motocross track in the country.As quickly
as you go up the mountainside, you descend just
as fast, shifting gears as fast as you can accelerating
faster and faster.
Half way down the hill, racers are hitting
about 4th gear wound out. While this is all
good fun until you see the nearly 180 degree
left hand turn approaching. Hard, and I mean
hard on the brakes the 395 pound Kawasaki has
more than enough braking power to bring the
quad to a controllable speed. All throughout
the race in-fact, the brakes performed without
hesitation or fade despite the heat and rocky
conditions.
As the race wore on, the sand whoops grew higher
and the ruts wore deeper. While there is no doubt
the KFX450R in stock trim prefers the smooth and
fast riding conditions earlier on in the race,
it still performed admirably throughout the constantly
changing terrain. Certainly the stock suspension
had its limits and they definitely were being
pushed to that point during this race. Regardless,
the stockers never really gave any surprises.
The rear shock took the breaker bumps and jumps
with ease, and never really kicked back. The fronts
were not ultra plush like high dollar aftermarket
units, but they were sufficient. Front and rear
the shocks are fully adjustable and rebuildable,
with piggyback reservoirs all around. I did notice
that towards the end of the event, the rough conditions
combined with the 100 plus degree temperature
did cause the rear shock to fade and become a
little springy, but for a stock unit, I really
have no complaints.
