Page 60 - Issue-46

JACOB WEIMER
450 SX / 11TH
IMAGE / LANG WORDS / ECKERT DESIGN / WILSON
>> An interesting character in the cast of Supercross, Jake Weimer has seen the drastic ups and downs that Supercross has to offer. Having been a 250 cham- pion in 2010, Weimer was at the top of the sport with the results to prove it. Since that time and jumping up to the premier class, Weimer has struggled to find the same footing and hasn’t seen the same support in recent years. Bouncing around teams and even sitting out the 2016 Nationals completely, Weimer wasn’t even sure he was going to be racing in 2017 but after filling in and posting some strong finishes, the #12 earned a full-time ride. Since then, Weimer hasn’t completely returned to the racing he’s capable of but earning points every round has kept him inside the top 15 overall and heading into East Rutherford for the penultimate round, he was only hoping to keep moving forward.
In route to achieving his goal, Weimer started the night in heat one with a me- diocre jump. Riding in 7th with a chance at the top five in his heat, a move never materialized for Jake and the JGR Suzuki rider was forced to settle for a ticket to the Semi. There, Weimer got a better jump and took the start into a qualifying po- sition early on. Holding on for the entirety of the brief race, a 4th place finish was enough to get to the main. With a full-gate of the hungriest homeboys around, Weimer, again, hesitated off the line and couldn’t challenge the lead pack in the first turn. Having to find his lines in the middle of the field, Weimer found himself in 15th behind Josh Grant for lap two. Staying on two wheels and taking advan- tage of the mistakes of Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac, Weimer moved into 13th fairly early on. A few laps later, Tomac had remounted and made his way back
by the #12 pushing Jake to 14th. As the main continued to count down, Weimer got a second wind late in the race allowing him to rally around Malcolm Stewart and Chad Reed to reach 11th before the final lap. Holding off any sort of charge from the #22, Weimer took the 11th home, tying his season-best finish of the year for the 2nd time. Jake will look for a repeat performance at the final round next weekend in Vegas.