Terminal Velocity San Fransisco Race Report
Round five of the Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Championship resumed the Lites Western Regional Supercross Championship, which meant that, after one race, Houston winner Christophe Pourcel and teammate Austin Stroupe got some time off while Anaheim I winner Jake Weimer and teammate Ryan Morais took to the track for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki squad.
Held in San Francisco, California’s AT&T Park, this year’s event marked the first time in the race’s history that rain wasn’t in the cards – whether in practice, or during the race, or both. A dry track created a level playing field for the top riders.
Weimer was fourth-fastest in timed qualifying, while his teammate Morais was sixth. However, that all changed once the racing started. Morais came through the pack for second in his heat race, while Weimer got the holeshot in the second heat and held off points leader Ryan Dungey for the win.
In the main event, Weimer got another holeshot and pulled away. Late in the race, Dungey caught him and attempted a pass, which resulted instead in a crash. Weimer led every lap of the main event, taking his second win of the season.
“I got the holeshot and just tried to ride smart, smooth, and ride my own lines and my own laps,” Weimer said. “I just pushed 100 percent, and everything that I had, that’s what I did. I tried to make good choices and good decisions, and Dungey came in for a pass, and it was really slick tonight, and he kind of lost the front end. I just tried to stay real high on the berm to try not to get tangled with him, and luckily I got away and had the last four laps to kind of just cruise around by myself. It was nice. It was a good night for me and for the team.”
Weimer now sits only four points behind Dungey at the halfway point in the Lites West Championship.
Morais’ luck on the start wasn’t quite as good as Weimer’s, as Morias rounded the first turn well outside the top 10 before working his way all the way back up to fifth.
“The main event was all right,” Morais said. “I just got a really bad start, and this track was really hard to pass on. It was unfortunately pretty much the end of my night as far as getting on the podium is concerned. I just put my head down and charged and rode as hard as I could, and I was able to come through from 15th or so in the first turn to fifth. But I don’t train all week and the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team doesn’t put in all the hard work for me to go out there and get fifth place, so it’s kind of disappointing. But I’m going to build off of it, and work on my weaknesses, and come back stronger next weekend. Overall, I thought my race was awesome, I just got a bad start.”
Morais sits third in points, 12 points out of the lead.
The Lites West returns to action at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, this Saturday, February 7.
“Jake rode amazing this evening”, stated Terminal Velocity’s Joe Parsons. “He has put himself back in the title hunt and we couldn’t more pleased with the way things are going.”
About Monster Pro Circuit Kawasaki Racing
Since 1991, Pro Circuit has fielded the strongest, most consistent team on the AMA circuit. Starting with Honda equipment, then moving to Kawasaki’s in 1993 and four-strokes in 2004, team owner Mitch Payton has managed to compete for Championships every season. In fact, in 2005 and 2007 his riders swept all three Lites-division titles in AMA Supercross and AMA Motocross. Since the first starting line-up, a total of forty-two riders have lined up for the Pro Circuit race team. For 2009, sponsors include Monster Energy, Pro Circuit, Kawasaki, Thor, Terminal Velocity Processing, Parts Unlimited, Vans, Scott, Maxima, Asterisk, N-Style, Alpinestar, NGK, PPG, DP, JE Pistons, Mechanix, RK, Renthal, Twin Air, VP, Bridgestone, Braking, Excel, Troy Lee Designs, Hinson, Athena, Ogio, Showa, Sunline, CMI, UFO, and WRP.
About Terminal Velocity Processing (TVP):
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