There’s a cool story in the 450MX season this summer and it involves a Masterpool. No, not Ty getting a Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki fill-in ride (although that’s cool also), it’s his older brother Jake coming back to racing after about four years off. Jake was close to a top ten guy as a privateer when he suffered a back injury, had a bunch of surgeries and finally, he’s able to come back to racing this summer. He ran near top ten in Pala in moto one and this weekend in Hangtown, he had a rough day. But what's this comeback all about? We talked to Jake about it last week, here an excerpt. You can listen to the whole Privateer Podcast here.
Racer X: So you raced for the first time in a long time at Fox Raceway and you got a great start in one moto, for sure. Why the comeback? What spurred this on?
Oh, really? I knew you had a jacked up back, but I didn’t know that was the reason why you quit or anything.
So, you just stopped because of your back? It wasn’t like, I don’t want to race. I’m not going to make any money or whatever. It was the back?
Yeah. I was pissed actually because when I stopped, I was qualifying pretty good. I was pretty often in the top ten, multiple top-six qualifying. The hard part was I couldn’t finish strong because of the back, and they told me I had to pull off if the pain went down my leg, if the sciatica was really bad. They said, if it goes down at all, you have to stop or you’ll get limp foot, and if you get limp foot, you’re kind of screwed. You know how it goes. You can block out a lot of pain and ride through it, which I had to. The hard part was I had to pay attention to it as well. It was very annoying to pay attention to the pain and all of that. I was really bitter, just trying to push through the pain. It was really tough because I was like, I can legit do this, but I was just in so much pain that the quality of life was not there.
Your last race you got 11th. The race before that, you got 10th overall. These are good results as a privateer.
Was it a herniated disc, or what was the diagnosis?
So, three surgeries, and the doctor maybe didn’t quite get it right the first couple times, do we think?
When did you start thinking about racing in 2024? When did it get better where you’re like, “Hey, do I still got it?” When did you get back on a bike?
Do you have to compensate for the back, or are we 100%? Is there anything you have to change about your riding style or training, bicycle rides or anything because of the back? Or are you feeling pretty much limit-free?
Back when I was riding, I was seeing the opportunity slip away because I knew I could do it. It’s not that macho like, “I can win everything.” I was pretty close, and I was doing that in severe pain. I was just super bitter and just felt like I was getting robbed. Luckily now, it’s humbled me big time. I’ve grown so much. I’m really enjoying it now and just really working on being better every day. When you do that, it’s great.
So, two years off a bike?
Being off all that time, last time you raced in 2020, are you frustrated because you don’t feel as fast as you were?
I had to look up who the hell was 416 out there on the track.
So, you’re feeling good. You’re trying to get back. Obviously, we saw your brother Ty crushed it last summer on HBI. Is that like, I want to ride - can you guys take my bike? Why are you on a GasGas and the team is a Kawi team?
So, what did you make of Pala? Your first race back in four years. You ran up front early in the moto. Anything surprise you? What was it like?
But that second moto, I was exhausted. I was so tired. Luckily, I was able to just snap out of it and go to work. I felt great. I was able to get in the zone and ride. I worked up to near top ten, and I was about to make a pass on Shane [McElrath] and a couple of the guys right there. I was feeling very sharp. Then the bike just made a weird feel. I had a problem with it on the sight lap. It kind of shut off on me, and then it wouldn’t start. I was like, “That’s weird. I’m going to punch this section and see if it does anything, and it was fine.” I was able to get a good start, sneak in on the inside, and I felt good. I was so mad because I was making my way forward and I felt sharp. I was like, “I do not want to stop.” Afterwards I was just really reflecting on the race. Like, was I looking for a way out or some BS? No. I wanted to pass some dudes. Anyway, the bike just lost power a little bit and it was just enough for me to be like, “What is this thing going to do?”