MotoFocus: Out of this Galaxy Kawasaki Womprat & YZ250-Powered Go-Kart Racer

A Shrunken YZ250 for the Monitor: Anton Bongaerts races bikes on tracks…go-kart tracks, that’s. The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stevelot, Belgium, or Spa as locals and regulars seek advice from it, is a simply over 7-kilometer (4.35 mile) System 1 Grand Prix observe that may allow you to run the tight and swoopy inside go-kart observe for simply €50 a day on a motorcycle. So yeah, why not?

The tight bends of the go-kart observe enlarge bikes really feel a bit cumbersome and, nicely, slower. Twenty years in the past Bongaerts constructed, raced, and even received an area championship using a home-built bike with a Minarelli 70cc engine on the tiny tracks. He graduated to supermotos, however determined they have been too huge and heavy to actually have enjoyable. So, in 2018, he purchased this “crushed up” 2001 Yamaha YZ250 two-stroke dust bike, rebuilt the engine, after which shrunk it to Moto3 specs for go-kart observe racing obligation.

The 2-wheeled kart observe star has OZ Racing wheels wrapped in observe slicks and trick 296mm disks clamped by Beringer calipers. He constructed the subframe from repurposed Honda CBR600RR tubes. The radiator core was sourced from a Kawasaki KLX650R, the carb is a trick Lectron Billertron, and Bongaerts hand hammered the tank. Swooping down below the body, the enlargement chamber resembles a python that simply snacked on an opossum, which Bongaerts additionally crafted himself. The stout selfmade swingarm was fabricated from 6082 T6 aluminum, and compliments the identical chiseled design because the gas tank.

When it was completed, he submitted it to Roland Sands Design’s #dreambuildoff competitors, the place it got here in second within the under-750cc class in 2022. When you’re within the space, anticipate to listen to this little zinger out terrorizing native kart tracks round Belgium this summer season. You will discover extra of Bongaerts’ builds on his Instagram.

The Womprat Hits the Bullseye: “This bike has been via quite a bit,” mentioned Chris Elliott. It was a survivor, pulled from a storage barely working for the tidy sum of $300. Elliott wheeled it out and stuffed it right into a station wagon, actually. It even survived a storage hearth. Now, after a whole rebuild, it sees loads of exhausting using round Phoenix, Arizona.

Just like the pests that Luke Skywalker would bullseye on Tatoonie from his T-16 speeder, this Womprat retains on going. “I got here throughout the bike and it was already sort of hacked up, however in working situation. I’m an enormous fan of ‘Star Wars,’ and quite a lot of the bikes I construct, they’re for sand dunes and stuff. That’s the place the title got here from,” Elliott mentioned.

“I constructed it as a result of that’s what I wished to construct. I construct bikes in keeping with my whims,” Elliott mentioned. His Womprat is principally a 1978 KZ400 with some mods accomplished for desert working round Phoenix. He tried to make use of as many OEM elements as he may, “however rearranged them,” he mentioned for a customized look, working on the communal Eleven 10 store in Phoenix. “Lots of people are drawn to Honda, however quite a lot of the Kawasakis have been outperforming everybody on the time,” he mentioned. “This one runs good,” and appears even higher.

His use of inventory elements offers the ‘rat a easy however efficient fashion. Mixed with the rodent title and catchy graphics, this Kawi demonstrates that even the best bikes drug from the again finish of a station wagon could make superior bugout machines. Give Chris a nod on his Instagram.

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