Page 106 - MPG17

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Jake Weimer was happy to be back on the west coast style track as the season rolled into Las Vegas. He has always excelled on the west coast compared to the east and was hoping to finish his fill in ride
on RCH Jimmy Johns Suzuki with a bang. He notched a ninth in the lone qualifying practice session the 450s would have because of the torrential rain that would basically flood the track inside the stadium. It sure set up for some wild racing. Weimer was amped up and ready to hit the slick and sloppy track and he powered into third place at the start of his heat race. Despite being passed early by Tomac, he looked very aggressive on the very tentative track. Holding down the final transfer spot, Weimer had company from Musquin on lap two but he held him off and then put a little gap between him and the French rider. He would hold that fourth place position all the way until the end and get straight through to the main event in a very impressive performance. Weimer had some confidence and momentum after that heat race but that would quickly be erased when he found himself emerging from lap one of the main event outside the top twenty. The track was so rutted up and slick it made moving forward and staying on two wheels extremely difficult. Weimer would make a few moves early and get to seventeenth after a handful of laps. But a bobble would bump him back to eighteenth at the halfway point. That’s when he decided he had enough of lingering in the back of the pack and he started charging hard. A few laps later he was in fourteenth place and in the closing laps he would make two more passes and snag a twelfth place finish. It was a great second half ride from Weimer as he was able to keep it steady and dice his way forward. All in all it was a pretty solid year for the rider from Idaho and he has to hope it was enough to line up a deal for 2017.
106 GRITMOTO • MAY.9.16
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