On the prowl at the Loretta Lynn's Grand National Championship Motocross race (see our December 2002 issue) for exceptional Blasters to help put Yamaha's newly tweaked Blaster in perspective, we discovered Mike Schupska--a competitor in the Air-Cooled class, which pairs 200cc two-strokes and 300cc four-strokes. He finished the year in fifth in points in the series. But that's not why he's featured here; his Blaster is a work of art! With powder-coated, polished and chromed parts, the thing looks as if it were built in a similarly high-tech work space.
ATV Rider: So Mike, where'd you build your Blaster? Mike Schupska: In my parents' kitchen. (laughs) ATVR: Was that in case you got hungry? You wanted the Doritos close by... MS: No, it was cold outside and my dad's old Ford pickup projects were taking up all the garage space. Besides it's cold in the garage...
Yes, started in the middle of an Ohio winter, this tasty Blaster was assembled not in a place of mechanical expertise, but rather a place of culinary preparation. Of course, Mike's Blaster didn't go straight from the showroom to the kitchen. After his dad purchased the 200cc machine for him in 1998, Schupska raced it in a few local races with just an extended and reinforced axle before deciding to get serious. So from the racetrack to the dish rack went the 19-year-old's plaything, and the rest is history.
Schupska got some help with his budding racing career from old friend Bud Fisher of Fisher Cycle Sales, who didn't work on Yamahas at the time but was willing to dabble for his friend. With a willing partner for the engine work, the Schupskas (Mike and father Mike Sr.) took the Blaster down to the frame and started from scratch. While Fisher handled the frame gusseting and motor work, Mike and family handled the assembly. The end result is the product you see here.
He's been racing the machine for four years now--two at local tracks and the last two in the Maxxis Grand National Championship. Over the years he's picked up sponsors to help fill the hole racing leaves in his finances. Northridge Yamaha (where he initially bought the machine), Nac's Racing (once he graduated to the Nationals), Mike's Bikes, Pro-X, Warn Yamaha and others have contributed to what is now a $13,500 ATV on its fifth engine. With his intimate experience on both the old stock Blaster and his reborn masterpiece, we figured he'd be a good judge of the new iteration of the venerable old girl.
Schupska had a chance to ride the 2003 edition at a recent Yamaha dealer demo and shared his impressions with us. He thought the new quad's Raptor-sourced brakes equaled his own Trenga Racing replacements. And he felt it's still the fun little machine it's always been. While Mike believes he's capable of moving up to one of the more high-powered racing categories (he's bought a TRX250R in preparation for this), he continues to campaign the Blaster because it's just such a joy for him to ride. The only problem he has with the sturdy performer is its tendency to eat motors in hot conditions. The local races he enters (CRA) are usually held at night in the summer months, but the Nationals are not so kind to the air-cooled machines, usually running them in the hottest part of a summer afternoon.
So how does a teenager from Ohio fund all this motor rebuilding and travel? His sponsors? His dad? No, while Schupska might lean on one or the other from time to time, he relies on his own full-time job at a plastics factory. The main business of the factory? Ironically, it's making OEM parts for Hondas, including 400EX airboxes.