Eighth place doesn’t really tell this story. On Saturday night, Jake Weimer’s result was his best since the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross finale in Las Vegas, but it was even more impressive than that.
Jake didn’t just get eighth, he charged into eighth, even putting heat on Trey Canard, his former 250SX rival, in the latter laps. After losing his Monster Energy Kawasaki factory status after 2014, and then losing most of last season to injury after a brutal incident in Detroit, it was hard to know where Weimer stood coming into 2016. A twelfth at Anaheim 1 was promising, but this San Diego race was even better.
“I don’t think I’ve really raced that well in awhile and it’s been probably better than anything I did last year,” Weimer told us in the Team Tedder truck after the race. “So that was my goal this year to get Anaheim 1 out of the way. I was dealing with a lot of nerves and anxiety there. I hadn’t raced in almost ten months so that was tough. So the goal from there was just to try and build. I definitely did that tonight. I was a little bit better in practice and then my heat race, I missed it by one but I was close. I was fighting with the guys. And then the main, I was happy with that for sure. That’s definitely a step in the right direction for me. Definitely a positive and would just like to keep putting down good rides.”
The same seven riders occupied the 1-7 finishing spots at the first two rounds, so at the moment eighth has become the pivotal spot for riders trying to reestablish themselves. Davi Millsaps grabbed it in Anaheim; Weimer in San Diego. Oddly, Millsaps and Weimer are deadlocked for eighth in points since they both have a twelfth and eighth in the books.
They don’t handout a Comeback Rider of the Year Award in Monster Energy Supercross, but these guys would be candidates, even if they both want more than eighth.
“I guess you’ve got to put it [eighth] in perspective a little bit,” he said. “There’s a lot of champions out there, and even the guys that aren’t champions are good. We’ve got a good field of guys right now. You look at the semis and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, the semis are good races!” It’s tough. Eighth, on paper you’re like, eh, it’s okay, but you look at the guys in front and behind and it’s like, jeez. We’ve got a lot of good guys right now.”
So why has Weimer been good so far?
“I’ve been working on things,” he said. “I’ve had, like I said, almost ten months of not racing and the majority of that I was hurt, not riding. I just sat down and did a lot of thinking about how I could be better and do better than I had been doing. What can I do better? And just personal stuff. I’m definitely in a different spot than I’ve been before and I’m just trying to really focus on myself and not get balled up on the number eight or the number ten or whatever [position I’m in]. Just trying to focus on myself and remember what I felt like when I was riding at my best that I ever have.”
It will be interesting to see if this is sustainable for Weimer. He started last year, his first tour with the Team Tedder/Monster Energy Kawasaki squad, with solid 11-9 finishes, but wouldn’t crack the top ten again until he garnered tenth in Indianapolis two months later. His season would end the next weekend in Detroit.
For a rider who has been through so many ups and downs, from a 250SX title and 250 National wins, to Motocross of Nations triumphs, to injuries and setbacks, he knows just one race isn’t enough to turn it all around. But it’s a start.
“I just want to keep trying to put down some finishes without falling and consistently be finishing well and try and build on that,” he said. “So tonight was good.”
