I'm not trying to actually solve your problem or tell you what to do.

Just curious as I'm interested in E85

If the engine stopped hot, how did the piston look from the exhaust port?

Is it a possibility that the fire went out because of a lack of methanol for the catalytic reaction and with the sudden stoppage, there was a lot of heat to suddenly dissipate because no wind was blowing over the fins? The engine would smoke and smell which to the senses means hot?

There's been a lot of discussion about plugs, hot ones, cold ones, and four stroke ones?