GEICO Powersports Honda Race Report - High Point
June 17, 2008
MT. MORRIS, Pen. – Although down to only two riders for the weekend, the GEICO Powersports Honda team continued its run near the front of the pack at the High Point Raceway AMA MX National in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, with Jake Weimer scoring his first overall podium finish, and teammate Dan Reardon running with the lead pack in both motos.
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In the first moto, Weimer got the holeshot to start on his Honda CRF250R, but then immediately began to make mistakes, going off the track three times in the first lap and a half. Falling back as far as fifth in the moto, he methodically worked his way back up through the pack to grab second with only three laps to go, where he finished the moto. It was his best-ever moto finish in AMA National competition.
"I've always liked this track," Weimer said. "This is only the second time I've been here, but I did all right here last year. I was pretty excited to come here. I got good starts last year, and I don't know, I just feel comfortable here for some reason. It's pretty rutty and that's pretty weird that I feel good here, because I don't ride in the ruts [normally], but I don't know, I felt good out there on the track."
In moto two, Weimer again started near the front, but lost a couple of spots in the opening laps before going back to work. He ran fourth for much of the race, with Brett Metcalfe right on his tail, but Metcalfe got him in the late going, dropping Weimer to fifth. However, the 2-5 score was good enough for second overall.
"The second moto, I didn't get quite as good of a start, but the first couple of laps, I always ride a little bit tight, and I seem to get a little bit better toward the middle and end of the motos," Weimer said. "Brett was behind me, and he was pressuring me pretty hard, and then he got around me, and I loosened up a little bit and then just followed him clear to the end. There wasn't a whole lot of battling going on, but we were close the whole time."
With a second-place finish, there's only one more spot to improve to.
"One of the biggest things for me is just mentally getting stronger and believing in myself," Weimer said. "I think that I'm a lot better, probably, than I really think I am, so I underestimate myself a lot. It's just mentally getting into that spot where I feel like I need to be up front and that's where I should be. I've been working on that the last couple of weeks, and my starts have been improving a lot, so I think it's just a combination of small things. I've been doing my work during the week and then coming every weekend ready to race."
With his second-place finish, Weimer moved up to fifth in the points standings and is within striking distance of most of the riders in front of him with eight rounds still left to run.
Teammate Dan Reardon was running near the front in the first moto off of the start, but he also had a bit of an off-track excursion, getting stuck in the mud that was pushed off to the side of the track from the rain on Saturday before the race.
"The first moto, I got off to a reasonably good start, then on the first lap, I was around seventh, and shot off into the mud and got stuck, which put me back in about 19th," Reardon said. "I tried to come through and make something of it, but I ran out of tearoffs about five laps in and then just survived it. The first moto, in my eyes, pretty much sucked."
Still, Reardon caught up to 11th in the moto. Then, in moto two, he didn't get as good of a start, due partially to technical difficulties, as the starting device that hooks his forks down for the start (preventing wheelies) broke on the line. Still, he fought his way up to a strong eighth for ninth overall.
"The second moto, we broke the start button [on the forks] in the start line, so I had no start button to start off with and my start wasn't that good," Reardon said. "I was like 15th or 16th, but I felt that the first 15 or 20 minutes of the moto were really good. I worked my way up to seventh, and I was catching the rest of the field. At about the 20-minute mark, I was kind of riding by myself, and I lost a little bit of concentration and just fuzzed out. It was a little disappointing, but we're working on it, and each round, we're looking forward to it. I'll get up there sooner or later."
Reardon now sits a strong seventh in points with 16 motos left to run.
Trey Canard sat out Mt. Morris as a precautionary measure due to the slight concussion he suffered in Texas, and Josh Grant has been out for the entire outdoor season so far from a heavier concussion suffered in practice at the Las Vegas Supercross. However, both of them are scheduled to return to action for the first-ever night National at Lakewood, Colorado, on June 28th, which means the GEICO Powersports Honda team will be out in full force after the series takes a weekend off and then heads to Colorado for round five of the AMA Motocross Nationals just outside Denver.
Team Sponsors: GEICO Powersports, Honda, Planet Fitness, No Fear Energy, AMSOIL, Factory Connection, Torco Racing Fuels, No Fear, Shoei, Gaerne, Spy, DVS, Cycra, Dunlop, EK, Ferodo, Hinson, Ogio, One Industries, Pro Circuit, Renthal, Showa, TAG, Twin Air, and Works Connection.
High Point Lites Overall:
1. Ryan Villopoto 1-1 Kaw
2. Jake Weimer 2-5 GEICO Powersports Honda
3. Ryan Dungey 6-2 Suz
4. Austin Stroupe 9-3 Kaw
5. Brett Metcalfe 7-4 Kaw
6. Ryan Sipes 5-6 KTM
7. Matt Goerke 8-7 KTM
8. Nico Izzi 3-15 Suz
9. Dan Reardon 11-8 GEICO Powersports Honda
10. Jake Moss 10-9 Yam
AMA Lites National MX Championship (After 4 of 12 rounds):
1. Ryan Villopoto (191/3 wins)
2. Ryan Dungey (163)
3. Austin Stroupe (152/1 win)
4. Brett Metcalfe (128)
5. Jake Weimer (127)
6. Jason Lawrence (113)
7. Dan Reardon (76)
8. Broc Tickle (66)
9. Matt Goerke (63)
10. Ryan Sipes (58)