Well i took a chance and swapped everything i could over to this POS 03 YZ 250 that the dealer is letting me use for the first race of the year. Turns out the shock does fit and works pretty good.
While i was at the shop switching everything over i talk to the mechanic who was/is working on my bike. I asked him about the whole gas issue. He said its a slight possibility but in his opinion, it was just a failure of the bearing itself. I'm sure i'll get 100 more replies telling me that it was my mixture :blah: :blah: , but i'll stick to my guns and say it was the bearing. ;)
But for future use, i'm going to use Bel-ray HR-1....at about 350:1... :laugh: