...  My local dealer has already packed it in after finding out who the new Dist is going to be.

Not too happy to hear this. Already started stockpiling OEM parts.

NTX OffRoad was doing a terrific job pushing the Sherco, but they did a smart thing for Sherco. Now one of the largest KTM dealers in the DFW metro area is a Sherco dealer. I bought my new 250se-f last week. Was nice to walk in and see so many new Shercos on the floor and a wall of parts OEM and aftermarket available to buy (although my wallet would disagree). I am looking forward to this race season and riding the Sherco.

The large dealer NTX - which was under Clay Stucky, had a big inventory of parts and sold a lot on line - essentially went out of business and got acquired.
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This has got to be the best thing I have heard all year. We were running strong and had no intentions of going anywhere but did get a offer to sale the Sherco portion of our business and it was the right decision to make for us. Ron nor anybody at RYP had anything to do with the buy out of my store, that I can assure you all of. A very large KTM dealer near me decided they wanted to become a Sherco dealer. With me as a small one man operation it was completely dumb for me to try and compete with somebody that controls the local market, can put 30 Shercos on the floor and simply dominates the local race scene. One thing I can tell you is that I actually have time to ride on the weekends

This FINALLY answers my question ,since no one else could confirm 
this hole is there for better starting. at slow crancking speed, this hole releases some compression to help the startermotor overcome too much resistance.
look in the exhaustport on the outside of the cilinder and notice where that hole ends up (above the powervalve)
once the engine's running this no longer has an effect.
thank you for posting this 
cheers, Hannes.

Very good video, it's not often people talk about all these aspects of being a good rider. Especially nutrition and mental health is often ignored.

Thanks! I've had a lot of people respond to me asking why I didn't go more into the racing side of things. My response, we're all riders first, racers second. There are more riders than racers. Even racers need fundamentals. I feel these fundamentals work for everyone across the board.

And as I have made nutrition and mental fitness a bigger part of my life, EVERYTHING has gotten better. My riding, my family life, my time with my kids. It's been a really cool experience growing as a human.