Photos Courtesy of Pascal Haudiquert / Lariviere Organisation
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer just returned back to the States after winning the “King of Bercy” title at the Paris-Bercy Supercross in France. Weimer went 1, 1, 2 in the three night event, but almost lost the overall crown when a crash in the closing laps of the final night put him to 3rd; but he was able to pass JGRMX/Toyota/Yamaha’s Justin Brayton for second to edge out GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac for the overall.
Pete Peterson: This is your second year of racing Bercy, what was different this year than last year?
Jake Weimer: I was more prepared this year than I was last year. We’ve already done a decent amount of testing and we’ve got the bike in a good spot. And I did know more what to expect this year, having been there last year, with the three nights of racing and their different style format for the evening program.
PP: You had a bad crash in practice, are you okay from that?
JW: I’m definitely sore. I kind of hit my chest and my ribs on my throttle housing as I was going down. It’s definitely sore, but I’m fine, it’s nothing serious. Just one of those things, some bumps and bruises, but I’m fine.
PP: Can having a crash early in the program actually help your results in any weird way?
JW: You never know. I mean, I’ve had situations like that but I don’t think there’s a set regimen of it like, ‘Oh, I crashed hard, I’ll be good now.’ I don’t think there are any guarantees. But I’ve done it before where I’ve been crashed and maybe kinda injured and it ended up working out better because maybe I took some pressure off myself for the race, [being] maybe more worried about the injury. You never know.
PP: I hear you had a funny experience in Superpole [timed qualifying fast laps].
JW: That was actually the same day that I crashed in practice. The corner before the finish line I kind of slipped up a little bit, and I had a really good lap put together up until that point and I was so close to the finish line. I told myself, ‘You can still make it. Try it. Salvage it the best that you can.’ And I came off the jump and was a little sideways and way too far off the track and landed – their tuff blocks are a little bit different over there, they’re more like balloon bags – landed on that and it spun me around like a helicopter. And that one actually didn’t feel good, but I was the only guy on the track, obviously, so all eyes were on me. So I thought to myself I can lay there and look like and idiot or I can get up and take a bow. So I got up and tried to play it off. The fans were cool about it, they all cheered. It was good.
PP: Do you think you were having more fun at this race than a typical US supercross?
JW: I wouldn’t’ say that. Any time you’re doing well, if you’re feeling good on the bike and everything’s kinda jiving, it’s fun no matter where you’re at.
PP: Did you have a factory bike for this race?
JW: Yeah, I had my bike sent over. My bike from the States.
PP: Is that pretty rare for this race?
JW: Not these days. Obviously it used to be, but these days I think it’s a little more common. I know Eli had a factory bike, and Brayton had his JGR bike over there. I took my factory bike over there last year, so I think these days it’s a little more common than it used to be.
PP: You had a crash in the final main event and the King of Bercy title was on the line. You had to pass Justin Brayton. Was that a panic or did you feel you had a place to pass Brayton and you were going to be able to make it happen?
JW: When I crashed I was definitely full panic mode. I knew I needed to beat Brayton to get the overall. On a track that tight, passing is difficult, and Justin was riding well, so I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I was full panic mode.
PP: What’s going to be different with your supercross racing in 2013 compared to your supercross racing last year?
JW: There’s no two ways about it, I’m going to have to be a little more prepared than I was last year, and faster. I think the last go at Bercy was good for my confidence. Everything’s going really well, just keep trying build some confidence and get some more speed, try and stay injury free and show up as best I can.
For more about this event, and to keep up with Jake leading up to Anaheim 1, check out http://www.kawasaki.com/Racing/
