Valve Cover Off 427 times

Well, I took the WR-250FP out this past Sunday on the ol' Pachaug enduro loop with the exhaust cam retarded to YZ specs.
How did it go?
Fast.

On the trails that allow you to get going with a decent amount of speed, the bike ran strong, with the newfound power making it easier to go fast on fast trails.
Once the revs get into the lower part of the midrange, the bike simply takes off like a shot compared to how the bike runs with the stock cam setup.
If you keep the throttle open, it pulls through the revs with authority it did not have previously, launching you out of corners and leaping over whoops like never before.
On my favorite pine-needled-whoops-through-the-woods section, it was my fastest run through the whoops to date, I do believe - the bike was really in it's element here.

The trade-off to get that power increase was that torque and pulling power way down low in the revs was lost in the process, and quite frankly, it was torque that was missed out on the trails.
This is because 90% of the mileage on the Pachaug loop is not fast like a motocross track through the woods (if only, huh?), but more like...woods.
And rocks.
And woods and rocks going up hill and down.
So, During the past couple of mornings before jerk, I actually set the exhaust cam back to the stock WR-250FP setup in order to restore the power characteristics to how they once were - lacking the harder-hitting snap and rev that was fun (in the few places it made sense), but returning the bottom end torque that is, really, needed out on those trails much of the time.
It only makes sense to me.

-John