Since making his pro debut at Glen Helen in 2009, Wildomar, CA, native Weston Peick has spent most of his career as a privateer. In 2012, he spent time with Star Racing/Valli Motorsports Yamaha as a fill-in and then with RCH/Soaring Eagle Suzuki this summer. Aside from those two short-term deals, Peick has been on his own. Next year, Peick, for the first time in his career, will enter Monster Energy Supercross with a full off-season under his belt on a factory team. For the long-time privateer, it’s been a long-time coming. We caught up with him recently to talk about his new beginnings.
Racer X: You were on JGR, but I actually got an email from Donny Luce that said you were a Yamaha guy even a little bit in your amateur days. Is this like a full-circle thing?
Weston Peick: Definitely. I rode Yamahas back in 2007 or 2008. I rode for Yamaha as a supporter rider coming up through the amateur ranks. I won some championships for Yamaha in 2008 at Loretta’s; then I made a little bit of a switch from there coming into the pro ranks and actually ended up back on Yamahas in 2011 and 2012 and I think maybe some parts of ’13, then just ended up doing some other things, and here I am back on Yamahas and I couldn't be happier.
So you were a privateer for while. People would think that when you get a deal like this that you’re like confetti and champagne and backflips and partying. Does it feel that way to get a deal like this? Do you go crazy?
I wouldn't say go crazy. It’s definitely a huge relief on my part to not have to sit at home and call sponsors to try to find money to make it to the races for the entire year and to find a legit deal for the year. Definitely signing with JGR is a dream come true. I set goals back in the day when I was an amateur coming up, and now everything played out well with the goals I set. I’m stoked to be under this deal, and I couldn't be happier to show up and just be able to race and have an awesome crew behind me to back me and to give me everything I need to succeed.
Just go back to the summer here. You did have a ride on a solid team there. How do you feel the summer went in your first experience at a team at that level?
I think it went really well with RCH. They brought me in. I had my own deal going on, but after I looked at my finances and all that stuff coming off of supercross, I spent crazy amounts of money just trying to do it the right way. I had no budget left for outdoors and I was just sitting there. I had to make a huge decision. It was either stay loyal to the sponsors that helped me, or I had to go to RCH and do what was better for me so I could actually make it to the races and not have to struggle and not have to worry about: “Am I going to be able to make it this weekend or am I going to have to penny-pinch here, penny-pinch there? Is my bike going have enough stuff to be able to make it for every single round?” Because it’s outdoors and it’s so much harder. Definitely with all my sponsors, I appreciate all their help. They have always had my back, but definitely signing with RCH, it was a huge step in my game of just experiencing what it’s all about to be on that level of a team and having that support. Definitely I think it brought my speed and then it kind of showed me more of what it takes to want to put that drive in everything, put even more of that effort into racing, because you have so many more people backing you. It’s just a way different process than what I was used to. It’s definitely an awesome experience to do a full outdoor series with a full team like that.
How different was testing? I know you said you were able to test and you had some pretty good stuff as a privateer, but was it still a big change, even the day of the race, to have all these people and all these parts to pick from?
Yeah, it was definitely a big change. I did most of my testing on my own program. We only had what we had. We had things that we could change but it was more or less like what we could get from side deals or this and that. It was more of like behind doors things and stuff like that. It wasn’t like out in the open to where you could just go and do things. Everything was more, I would say, top secret or something like that. It was tougher than just being able to show up on a full team and not having to worry about certain things like that. Being a privateer, we tested during the week, and that’s what we raced with on the weekend. We didn’t change stuff on the weekend besides hard parts that were easy to change like gearing and stuff like that. It was pretty much we had a one-bike package, other than when we did do suspension changes or engine changes during the week to better the bike for the weekend. On RCH, there was everything on the truck. We could try suspension changes the same day between practices. If I wanted more power, we had ECU programmers. There’s so many more things that we’re able to do on a full-level team versus what I had. I had one ECU and that’s what I raced with the whole entire supercross series. I never changed it once because that’s what we had to deal with.
So explain that. You knew your privateer bike would be better if you could do this or that, but you’d have to figure out a way to find someone that could get that for you?
That was the hardest thing about the whole privateer thing. I didn’t have the money to pay people every single weekend too to come out and be my ECU tuner. So I’d show up one weekend and it’d be cold and the bike wouldn’t run right because we tested it in Cali and it’s hot. So it was so hard to try to run around and ask other teams that have the same software stuff that I ran, and then have them take time out of their day with their jobs that they’re doing with their riders, and trying to be like, “Hey, I’ll give you money, can you please help me? I just need you to change something.” That was the biggest struggle. It’s definitely a huge relief being able to just not have to deal with those things anymore. It didn’t seem like big things, but at the end of the day it does wear on you and stress you out a lot, trying to walk around and ask people at their trucks while you’re trying to race.
Is there pressure now? When guys are privateer fans are always like, “If this guy had this bike, he could do this.” I’m sure you don’t exactly know how it’s going to change. Are you like, “Man, factory bike I didn’t win a moto?” How do you look at the results?
With the privateer thing, like I said, my crew that I had, we built a bitchin bike. We had good stuff. We had a really good, competitive bike. But in the long run, even if you do have that, there was still so much struggle and so much more that went into it to be consistent every single weekend even though we had a truck and we had bikes and we had all this stuff. We’re still missing pieces to be consistent whereas on a team everything is consistent. You show up, everything’s the same every weekend. Just knowing that you’re showing up and you have everything relieves you. You’re less stressful. It was definitely a big step in going up. You know my results for outdoors, and I’d say I did pretty well. I think I finished top-ten every single weekend almost unless I crashed or had a bad moto. But I just think it makes it so much more consistent in your program versus if you’ve seen my previous years, it was such a roller coaster, up and down, up and down. I was so up and down because that’s what I had to work with. My program was half-ass. It was what I had and that’s all I had to work with. I think that was a struggle for me. Trying to get to this next level was like, I don’t have the money to do it right, to go out there and make a name for myself and be consistent every weekend. Finally in 2014 I made enough money in ’13 where I was like, “We’re doing it right this year. We have one more shot to get out there and give it our all.” Between my money and sponsor money that I got in ’14, I spent every last dime I had. I didn’t care about money; I was just spending it to make sure that I can get on something like this. It was the make or break year for me. I was like, “This is it.” I just said, “I have to.” I’m spending everything I own. I’m doing everything I can to excel to that next level just for bikes and staff, everybody that I hired. It had to be done. It cost me a lot but it got me a spot on RCH for outdoors, and now I signed with JGR for ’15.
But that’s a big risk. When you go down hard in Phoenix, just the second race of the year, do you think, “What if this doesn’t work out?” There’s a lot on the line if some dumb racing luck takes you out, right?
Yeah, definitely. There’s definitely a lot on the line. For stepping up my program for ’14, it was all or nothing. I knew that if I was injured I had to ride injured. I just couldn't be a p***y about it! I just had to fight through whatever I had to deal with so that was definitely risky, but in the long run it’s all about confidence and just keeping your head up. Like I said, it paid off.
How does a deal like this start? Did they talk to you; did you talk to them? Does it kind of just work out since you’re doing well at the races? What happens?
I think we just started making mutual conversations. My dad does a lot of my agent stuff. He’s one of my managers. I’ve never had an agent or anything like that. He usually does everything. He was feeling everybody out over here and talking to Yamaha a little bit, and they liked me over here and they knew I had a good work ethic. I think they wanted to give me a chance, and it came down to obviously my results were way better and a lot more consistent this year. I think that’s kind of how it came about. They wanted to just give it a shot.
And you’ve ridden with them a little bit, so how’s it going so far?
It’s been going awesome. I came out here with an open mind. I was so impressed with how everything went down. It’s been crazy how easy everything’s gone. The bike is amazing. I couldn't be any happier with the setup as of the few days that we’ve rode it. I think from here probably testing for a few days, it’s only going to get better. I’m stoked. Everybody’s awesome here at the shop. The bike’s crazy fast and it works awesome. So I’m super stoked to continue testing and trying to get the bike as best as possible.
These dudes were nailing starts last year on this team. That was the one thing it seemed like you weren’t getting down week in and week out. Every once in a while in a heat race or something, but most of the time you were going through the pack. Do you think this will fix that?
Definitely, I think it will fix that. The bike is crazy strong. They build some fast stuff here. I definitely think I’ll be pulling a lot of holeshots this year, for 2015. I’ll definitely be up there.
And you’re racing Monster Cup?
Yep, I’ll be at Monster Cup.
I know it’s a different Yamaha than the one you would have ridden a couple years ago. Are there some things that coming through the ranks as a Yamaha guy that still carry over a little bit?
I think the bike is. From when I last rode the bike, it doesn’t even feel like the same bike. It’s a 100 percent different bike. They’ve put so much testing and so much effort into making an awesome bike. It’s a nimble bike, it’s light, it feels good. Like I said, I couldn't be happier to be on it after riding it.
Now that you’ve gotten here, do you feel like “I told you so” right now? Do you feel like, “What took everybody so long?”
Yes and no. It would have been nicer to have been able to get a shot sooner on in my career, but nothing gets handed to you. It was just the way that everything for me coming up was put into place with not racing Lites and coming in so late into racing. I was mainly just like the underdog, the guy out there that had spurts of good showings but was never consistent because of like I’d said with what I had to work with. It was tough to be competitive every weekend with just what we had, showing up in the van. It was just tough. There were definitely points in that point in my career where I had no money. I showed up to a few supercross races and I had no money. I was borrowing money. I was like, “I have to make the main tonight to make money to get to the next race.” It’s definitely been a crazy road. There’s been times where I’ve totally wanted to quit and just be like, “I’m over it, I can’t do it anymore.” But you stick with it and it only makes you stronger. I’m glad that I stuck with it. It does bug me a little bit that I would see people getting signed that I knew that if I had a solid program I could beat them every single weekend instead of just beating them sometimes. I guess it is what it is, and that’s just the way some of the sport is with choosing riders. I think a lot of people would almost want to stay safe and be like, “We’ll just stick with these guys we know instead of trying someone new.” Like I said, I stuck out there and kept with it and proved people wrong now and now I’m here and have a solid deal. So I’m stoked.
And on the upside, you have to be so fired up now. It’s not like you’ve been doing this for twenty years every day getting up and riding motos. So you’ve got to be fresher I would think than some other guys.
Yeah, I’ve been more motivated the last couple months since signing with JGR. I’m just stoked to be like I have something now to work for every single weekend. I have somebody that’s supporting me that actually wants to do something...that actually cares. I’m not saying that people didn’t care before, but it’s like a whole family foundation thing. There’s people there. I’m starting sooner instead of starting in December or November. Everything’s done now, and all I can do is focus on racing. It won’t get better from here. I have more drive to want to go out there and win. I think it’s definitely going to be a solid year.
What do you think you can do results-wise? Podiums? It would seem like they’re right around the corner. You’ve had fourths and fifths a lot.
Definitely, I think podiums this year are definitely going to happen with the new team and with everything falling in place, with my training program this year, and obviously signing with JGR. I think it’s definitely going to be the game changer this year of my results standing out. I think this we’ll have some podiums.
