FST Kawasaki V-Force
It's been a frequent occurrence throughout the years. I'll find myself hanging out along the tight, technical and green-canopied sections of the Grand National Cross Country series racecourse in order to capture all the action on my camera. All of a sudden, an orange streak of lightning blazes past before my camera has the chance to lock in and focus. This streak of orange light hits and vanishes so quickly that I'm often left with nothing more than an orange blur captured by my camera. By no means do I believe this to be some spooky orb or strange phenomenon (OK, maybe a little); this occurrence is nothing less than the passing of the blistering fast and talented GNCC racer Mike Benson.
At 45 years young, Benson has the ability to gracefully dance his quad in and out of the trees with such precision, speed and accuracy. And considering that much of his competition in the U2 GNCC class is half his age, I find it somewhat inspirational that he seems not only to win his class habitually but is a likely contender for an overall podium position week after week. After a recent interview with Benson, I asked him how he does this and continues to win at the age of 45. With a smirk on his face and the (I've got a secret) look in his eyes, he answered, "It's all in the quad setup." Just in case you didn't know, Mike pilots an FST-powered Kawasaki V-Force, which in stock trim weighs in at just over 550 pounds. That's a lot of girth to muscle around a two-hour GNCC racecourse. I suspect Mike is being a little modest by giving all of the credit to his precisely built four-wheeled rocket, as certainly talent and personal drive must play into his recipe for success. But either way, this sparked our interest, and we wanted to know more about how Mike sets up his 800cc FST V-Force and, if we were lucky, maybe get a ride on it, too.
Race Setup
Starting off, when Mike first obtains his new stock Kawasaki V-Force 700, he tears it down to bare bones and ships off his motor to Mickey Dunlap, owner of Four Stroke Tech. The motor then begins to go through a metamorphosis, transforming from a mild powerplant to a ferocious GNCC race beast. Dunlap sets him up with the FST Stage 3 Web cams and FST valve springs as well as the FST/Wiseco 800cc kit, which includes pistons, sleeves and head gaskets. Also, Dunlap performs his signature Cross Country port and flow work along with a three-angle valve job. By adding on a Muzzys Pro pipe with a stepped header and FST's tuned CDI with a 2500-higher rpm rev-limiter, the motor is near completion and almost ready to tackle the new season. After adding on AMR high-output coils for quick starts and a Dalton clutch kit with the overdrive plate built to FST specifications, the motor is ready to be sent back to Benson for installation.
As Benson awaits his new finely tuned engine, he begins working on things such as suspension and protection and dialing in a trick professional look. Mike begins with a set of Elka's Elite race shocks which are fully adjustable via tunable high- and low-speed compression and tunable rebound. Over the years, Benson has worked in conjunction with Elka in dialing in his spring rates and special valving to best suit his weight, riding style and needs while on the track. Suspension setup is one of the key elements that helps Benson on his road to victory. Mike spends countless hours in the off-season refining and dialing in his shocks to perfection before he ever arrives at the track. And to bump up the machine's overall stability and strength, Mike adds on a DuraBlue axle.
...
>>next page