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JAKE WEIMER
450 SX / A2
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / KILPATRICK DESIGN / WILSON
>> Jake Weimer’s third weekend as a part of his temporary tenure for
the JGR Suzuki squad got off to a decent start as he put in the twenty- first fastest qualifying time of the afternoon to grab his ticket to the night show. He got out to a mediocre start in the opening premier class heat race as he found himself just outside the top ten behind Christophe Pour- cel. He would force his way past Nick Schmidt at the midway point of the race, but that wouldn’t be enough to forgo him of a trip to the semi-quali- fiers. Weimer put the Suzuki power straight to the ground in the first semi race as he jumped out to a fifth place start, teetering on the edge of the transfer positions. He ended up just behind Friese and made his move on the Honda rider one lap into the race. Weimer was able to manufac- ture a comfortable gap behind him until late in the contest when he came under pressure from the defending champion, Ryan Dungey. The Red Bull KTM superstar was able to put the move on Weimer, but he was
still able to hold on for the final transfer spot directly into the main event. Weimer experienced the worst way possible to start the main event as
he found himself on the ground in the first corner after absorbing a nudge from another rider of the same brand. The former 250 champion was not deterred as he began to pick his way through the pack over the course of the opening laps. By the time the third lap had come around, Weimer had already worked his way into twentieth position past Adam Enticknap and Ronnie Stewart. On the tenth lap, the Idaho native had forced his way past a couple more riders and found himself in seventeenth position. He put his off-the-couch fitness on display and continued to push hard, even- tually making his way past Vince Friese in the latter stages of the race. Weimer will be putting in the last stint of his ‘fill in’ opportunity with JGR Suzuki this coming weekend in Arizona as Justin Barcia will be returning the following race.
104 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 22, 2017