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COPYRIGHT 2004 Ehlert Publishing Group
There used to be a time when "factory" quads didn't exist. Well, last season to be exact. Now there is at least one factory quad out on the motocross track. Doug Gust walked away with the GNC motocross championship aboard a Suzuki/Yoshimura Z450--he clinched it with two rounds to go in the season. That's an impressive feat for a platform just about everyone wrote off before the beginning of the season. Crow tastes good, doesn't it?
After Gust started winning, the speculation around the pits was the Yoshimura engine kit wasn't legal. And after three wins in a row, the engine was protested and tore down. It proved to be within speculation and the rumors that the engine kit wasn't the same one any Joe could buy from Yoshimura were proved false, too. Hmmmm ... More crow anyone?
And what can be written about Gust that hasn't been written before? Anyone in the sport ATV world that hasn't been confined to a galley ship knows the story of "Digger." The 37-year-old Wisconsin native has been racing in the Pro class since the early '90s. In 1995 a broken leg at the last round of the season prevented him from capturing a championship that was within his reach. But in 1999 he won his first GNC Pro championship. In 2003 he was crowned the GNC Motocross Pro Production champion and, of course, he wrapped up this season's motocross championship.
He is an inspiration to many racers, young and old--as evidenced by the long lines when he signs autographs.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
From day one, Team Suzuki/Yoshimura had one goal in mind: to prove everyone wrong. And the team, led by Wayne Hinson, did exactly that. But how good is Gust's Z400-based race quad? We heard it is heavy and too tall. Is this true?
These questions were put to the test when we rode the machine at this year's Red Bud GNC National. Red Bud is the closest MX Nationals track to Gust's hometown, so we felt it fitting that we would test his race quad at that track.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
There was a new twist to this year's track layout: a 300-foot section of whoops. Yes, this would be a perfect test for Gust's fabled Noleen-tuned Elka shocks that seem to be the talk of the pits.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Engine
Gust started his love affair with the Suzuki 400 engine back in 2001 when he and Tom Carlson--of TC Racing--campaigned the GNC series with a DRZ-400-based race quad.
When Gust won the first round (Echeconnee), there were a lot of "firsts." First time an electric-start engine won a GNC round, first time a Suzuki four-stroke won, first time anyone not named Gary Denton won a Pro-Class round on a Suzuki, and some others. Gust knows this engine.
But, more importantly, he proved that it could be run in an ATV frame, and run competitively. Yoshimura had some success coaxing power from the DR-Z400 engine and had developed a nice kit for the dirt bike. Still, in order to build a DR-Z based race...
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