Weimer & Morais Sweep 1st & 2nd @ Anaheim

CORONA, CA – Opening the pursuit of yet another championship in its industry-leading SX Lites class race heritage, the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team – led by Jake Weimer and Ryan Morais – took the top two spots at the first round of the WSX Lites series, round one of 2009 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship held at Anaheim’s (Calif.) Angel Stadium.
 
{LINKS}Topping the charts before a live crowd in excess of 40,000 – as well as a live TV viewing audience on SPEED - was Weimer, who won his second career AMA SX Lites race at Anaheim. Weimer got out fast from the get go and avoided a wreck that collected the defending WSX champ, Monster Energy’s Jason Lawrence and ESX champ Trey Canard, running in 2nd place behind Dan Reardon early in the contest. The Idahoan then put the hammer down on lap three, got past Reardon and led the remaining 13 laps en route to victory.
 
“Unbelievable – exactly where I wanted to be,” said Weimer. “My goal was to get on the podium. I want to win the championship and didn’t want to throw it away at the first round. To start off by winning? Couldn’t be any better than that. I worked my ass off for this – it’s such a good feeling.”
 
Charging equally as hard into 2nd place overall was Weimer’s Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki teammate, Morais. The southern California native didn’t pull quite as good of a start as Weimer did, but he made up for it midway through the race and closed strong to give Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki the 1-2 overall at the Anaheim opener.
 
“I can’t thank Mitch (Payton) enough,” said Morais on the opportunity to race for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team. “I’ve been working my butt off and the team’s put in a lot of late hours. It’s a dream.”
 
Morais pulled the holeshot in the first heat race and wound up 2nd to Weimer in that contest as well, adding that he thought that was the first holeshot he ever pulled in a major pro SX Lites contest. “After that I thought to myself ‘Alright, I can holeshot the main – no problem on this bike.’”
 
And the plan almost came together before Morais got pinched in tight on the first turn of the main and came out of the pack in around 6th place. From there he said he rode the first few laps smart, staying out of trouble. “People were knocking each other down and I just put my chase on like halfway through, started catching Jake (Weimer) – but got a bit too excited and tightened up,” said Morais. “But to finish 2nd – that takes a lot of pressure off me.”
 
Next up for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team is round two of Monster Energy Supercross at Phoenix’s Chase Field.
 
Monster Energy supports the sport. Be it SX, rally, insane distance jumping, MX, MotoGP, road racing, supermoto, off-road, FMX, skate, MTB, wake, mini bikes, surf, snow, BMX – name it – the athletes are rockin’ Monster Energy more than anything these days. Check out all the types – Original Monster Energy, Monster Lo-Carb, Monster Assault, Monster Khaos, Monster’s fruit juice hybrid dubbed “M-80,” the party-friendly MIXXD, the ground-breaking Java Monster premium coffee & cream drink line supercharged with our Monster Energy blend, along with the new Monster Energy “Hitman” energy shot. Jake Weimer & Ryan Morais dig ‘em – so will you. On the ‘Net at www.monsterarmy.com and www.monsterenergy.com