Warning !!
Boreing technical post !!
Boreing technical post !!
Because I survived the 70s & 80s I had to do a little research to confirm my memory.

Think of two circles, one small (piston) one large (cylinder). Mathmatically the small only touches the large at one point. Lengthen them into cylinder shapes and the point becomes a line. So the piston is only touching at one point. But wait!! Hopefully you have a film of oil between the two, therefore the piston has no direct contact for the heat to flow from the piston to the cylinder wall. Not to mention the fact that oil absorbs heat easily but doesn't release it easily.
Exhaust temps range 1200-1300*F just past the ex port, with combustion temps of @1500*F.
But aluminum melts at 1220*f (siliconized al is a bit higher) The thermal properties of Al allows it to absorb heat quickly, but also disipates it quickly (luckily!! )
Enter the incoming air/fuel charge!!
First it cools the underside of piston (and lubes pin/bearing) Evidence of this is coked oil underside of well used piston.
Then when transfer ports open the A/F mixture enters cyl cooling the crown. Evidence of this is coking of oil on crown of piston.Evidence of proper jetting is by what is known as "piston wash"
With a 2s when you go from rich/safe/correct jetting towrads lean two things happen. Horsepower and temps rise (somewhat together) until you reach optimum. After that point power drops slowly but temps rise at an even faster rate, hence meltdown. This is why the run the best just before they blow up.
More can be read in books by Gorden Jennings and Grahm Bell. Might be something from Blair.
Opposing viewpoints, contradicting info all welcome.
https://www.google.com/search?site=...msedr...0...1c.1.64.hp..1.8.871.0.0DNi959XzGM
http://www.challengers101.com/ExhaustGasTemp.html
https://www.google.com/search?q=2+s...VKYrfsAX0u4HIAw&ved=0CB4QsAQ&biw=1440&bih=766
Jennings: http://www.amrca.com/tech/tuners.pdf
Bell: http://iheartstella.com/resources/manuals/tuning/Graham-Bell-Two-Stroke-Performance-Tuning.pdf
Blair: http://www.dragonfly75.com/motorbike/2StrokeDesign.pdf