Tony Cooksley's special YZ250 2-stroke

Thursday 14 November: This is no ordinary 250 2-stroke. Pictured here by Darryl Blom as it emerged from his Workshop Graphics late this afternoon.

In 2004, faster-revving two-strokes still dominated the AMA Supercross Series on the series’ tight, technical indoor tracks. The fastest of them in 2004 was Chad Reed’s Yamaha YZ250. Reed used this machine to win 10 of 16 races, en route to his first and only AMA National Championship, over Honda’s Kevin Windham.

For Reed, the trick Yamaha was the right tool at the right time. Based on the company’s production machine, Reed's YZ had a Pro Circuit engine, hand built by Mitch Peyton. The bike was assembled by team mechanic Darrin Sorenson with parts from Yamaha Japan, Yamaha Motors USA and aftermarket companies.

Tony Cooksley has long talked of building one, so here in 2013, is Tony's brand new YZ250 2-stroke.

Yes, it looks like a 250F and the reason for that is it has a Peter van de Laar kit from Holland. That includes a 250f sub-frame, 250f shrouds, 250f seat, radiators are 20mm lower and a one-off aluminium gas tank which hold an extra litre.

The cone pipe is also built in Holland by the guy who used to make them for the Yamaha Factory years ago. Tony has three but this one is for mid-range.

He rode it at Harrisville's practice last Saturday for the first time but wants to get used to it before he fits his Yamaha 'factory' forks and shock. At this stage the engine is standard apart from the clutch but he has a Chad Reed replica Pro Circuit engine ready to go.

Tony has a penchant for 'plain' graphics and you can see in these pics below Darryl Blom from Workshop Graphics has interpreted that extremely well.