"Fight breaks out after crash in Supercross race." That’s what the headline on usatoday.com read the day after the 2016 Monster Energy Supercross Series opener at Anaheim, California’s Angel Stadium. As we all now know all too well, Weston Peick and Vince Friese got into one of those “racing deals” that night, the whole thing punctuated by Pieck’s fists banging Friese’s skull bucket. Yes, it made for good old fashioned publicity, but a disqualification, a one-race suspension, and a $5,000 hole in his pocket later, It wasn’t really the sort of publicity Weston Peick really wanted. And it was gift that kept on giving as the 26 year-old Californian was never really able to get his season on the rails like he wanted to. But that was then and this is now. Back with the JGRMX team and aboard a new Suzuki RM-Z450—a bike Peick raced on in 30 supercross main events between 2013 and 2014—for the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross Championship, it’s all systems go for one of the most unique, interesting, and often times, liked personalities in the entire sport. On Thursday night, long after the entire paddock had left the Angel Stadium Parking lots for elsewhere, Weston Peick, after making a turkey sandwich for dinner, sat down with Racer X and did some pretty serious bench racing.
Racer X: Weston, I have to hit you with a pretty forthright question right off here. The dust up that happened between you and Vince Freise here last year. That whole ordeal put you back on your heels for quite a while, didn’t it?
Weston Peick: Yeah, it was a tough thing that happened. It was like you get prepared and you go racing and then something like that happens and it kind of just throws you off. So much shit went on with that with the AMA and FELD and the FIM. So many bad things came up with it. I don’t really know what happened. Something happened. Once it happened, I just kind of froze up with it. Stuff just wasn’t clicking for a while. It took me a minute to regroup and get back on track. And when I did come back, I had a really bad crash, too. I was fighting the crash as well as all of the extra PR and the publicity and all the replays. It was so much crap on my shoulders that I wasn’t really expecting or that I wanted to deal with. There was so much going on that I had to deal with that I just kind of scrambled a little bit.
Did the bad crash you just spoke of happen at Oakland?
Yeah, I came back from my suspension at San Diego and then we went back to Anaheim and I placed around 14th there. Then I went to Oakland and crashed super-hard and I hit my head. I hit my head really hard and I was kind of jacked-up for at least four weeks because I should have taken some time off, but I was like, “I already got suspended for two weeks so I should just keep racing.” I was kind of dealing with some head stuff for a little bit there and I just pushed through that and just kind of had an up-and-down season.
So the entire season was something of a struggle?
Yeah, I would have killer weekend and I would have shit weekends. I was so up-and-down the whole season. I was trying to figure what the hell I was doing right and what I was doing wrong. I was in scramble mode and was trying to find what worked right for me. It was hard to bounce back, but I had some good races and I had a lot of bad races, but it all ended up working out in the long run.
You wound up eighth overall in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. A respectable season for you outdoors?
Ah, the whole year was bad for me. There were good races, but for the most part it was a hard fought series. There were a lot of crashes and a lot of injuries through outdoors where I was like, “Shit, I shouldn’t race.” But I raced anyway just to race for the team because I’m a team player and I always show up and I race no matter what. It was an up-and-down season that I definitely don’t want to have again.
After the Ironman National finished up and you went into the off season, what did you do?
I took six weeks off. I didn’t do anything for six weeks straight. I completely didn’t ride a dirt bike. I didn’t do anything for six weeks. I just kind of flushed it all out and pretty much just started from scratch. I got rid of some people and I hired some new people. I just needed a change, you know? That’s what I did and it’s been working a lot better for me.
Did the rumor of JGR switching from Yamaha over to Suzuki for 2017 hit at this point in time?
There was talk, but even when I heard we might go to Suzuki, I was told, “Nope, we’re going with Yamahas.” My thinking was, As long as I have a ride, I’m fine. Whatever happens, happens. It ended up being a Suzuki deal and I ended up signing.
During the off-season, did you know that you would be staying with JGR for 2017? I thought I may have heard some chatter that you and he team might be going separate ways.
Yeah, I had gotten word from Coy [Gibbs] and Jeremy [Albrecht] that they were going to keep me, but there was no contract. Obviously it’s hard to take someone’s word when there is really nothing on paper. Even though they kept telling me, “Hey, you’re going to have a ride,” I was still nervous as hell and was still like, “What do I do? What do I do?” I was even thinking at one point, Am I going to be buying bikes this year and doing it on my own again or what? It was definitely a stress relief when I re-signed with JGR.
When word did actually down that the JGR team would, in fact, be switching over to Suzuki, what did you think?
Seriously, I didn’t even think it was even going to happen. I wasn’t even getting my hopes up. When they told me it was going to happen, I was like, “Are you serious?” I was pretty stoked because I had good success on Suzuki in my privateer days. I was on Suzukis for about two and a half years. Once we got word that we would be on Suzuki I was pretty stoked just because I had such a tough year on the Yamaha. I think it was a good change. I like the bike a lot and like I said, I’ve had some success on it. I love the bike. I’ve been riding it quite a bit now since the off-season started and have been enjoying it.
For a rider such as yourself, is there a very big difference when you switch from one brand or type of bike over to another and completely different bike? At the professional level that you are at, is a change like the one JGR made huge for you?
Yeah, I think it does. Every rider is different and they ride a bike differently. They use the power differently. Their body positioning is different. From a general standpoint of a general person going to buy a bike, I don’t think they can tell a big difference going from bike to bike. But when you’re racing it and you’re pushing it and you’re going as fast as we are, you’re really finding out what these bikes do good and what they don’t do. I think with riding the Yamaha, it was harder for me to set that bike up than it is to set up our Suzuki. There was nothing bad about the bike, it was just a harder bike to transition to and to set-up.
When you first got back on the Suzuki, did everything come back to you immediately?
I went out to ride it for the first time – and I hadn’t ridden in six or seven weeks – and when I hopped on it I was like, “This is weird. I don’t know.” I kept riding and one thing I did think it did do good was that it turns really well. I was riding it and I was actually overturning the bike because I was cutting so sharp and this and that. I think it’s a good bike and suits me well. Pretty much all the way up until about halfway through December, I’ve been putting in a shit-ton of laps and just doing longer motos because they switched the format and stuff. I’ve really been working on getting the endurance up and the stamina up to be able to run these 20 minutes. That was my big focus. I knew I was comfortable on the bike and I knew this was crunch time. It was about being consistent and putting the laps in.
Speaking of such things, what’s your take on the new timed main event format?
I don’t know. It’s a lot of laps to make it a 20-minute race. In some races it could all the way up to five laps more. We’re all going to be in the same boat and we’re all preparing the same way, but I think, personally, it’s pretty dumb. If we’re in a race and doing 25 laps, that’s a lot laps with your heartrate being that high. I think 20 laps is long enough, but to add another how many laps it is, I think it’s going to be real challenging. But like I said, you can’t complain because we all have to do it.
All of us are pretty much guilty of saying the same thing every year, but 2017 does appear to be set up to be more competitive than ever, doesn’t it?
It is. You think about coming into it last year. It was the same shit last year. Everybody was like, “Oh, this is the most stacked field we’ve ever seen.” When you really think about it and you come down to it, half the guys are going to get hurt before the season ends. That’s just a usual thing if you look at the stats. Everybody gets hurt. It’s a dangerous sport. We’re all going fast as hell and we’re all pushing it. Yeah, it is stacked, but coming into this season I’m just looking at it as this is my race and this is my season because I’ve put my own laps in and I’m ready to do what I’ve got to do.
You’re different than all the other guys. You’ve got your own approach and your own way of doing thigs. Are you cognizant of that?
Yeah, I’m definitely different. I didn’t grow up on the same path that all of these other factory riders did. I did my own thing. I wasn’t racing from four years-old all the way until now. I did my own thing. I’ve done stupid shit. I’ve done all the stuff that most of these guys haven’t done. I think that’s what separates me from them. I might not be as fast as them some days, but I’m just myself and I think that’s why I’m different and that’s why some people like me more than they like other people. You know, I don’t have a big old posse and wolf pack. I roll up solo, or maybe with one person, and that’s just how I’ve always been. That’s what works for me. I don’t like having five people around me all the time and feeding bullshit down my ear.
Right on, Weston. In your mind’s eye, how do you want to do and how do you think you can do come Saturday night inside this place?
How I’m going to do is to be, for sure, up in the top five this weekend. That’s what I’m shooting for. I think I’ve put in the work and I know I can do the 20 something plus laps that we’re going to be doing on this track. I feel comfortable and that’s what I’m looking forward to doing.
