SOUTHWICK, Mass. – As the 2008 AMA National Motocross Championships come to a close, the series headed to Southwick, Massachusetts, for the penultimate round. Southwick has, over the last few years, been held early on in the championship, but this year, the one sand race on the circuit was moved to the tail end of the title chase.
After setting the fastest times in qualifying both days in the sand, team rider Josh Grant went down in the final qualifying session and ended up in the hospital for diagnosis with what turned out to be a severely bruised hip. He should be back up and running for the season finale at Steel City this Saturday, though.
Not known as a sand rider, GEICO Powersports Honda’s Jake Weimer was solid at Southwick. In moto one, he started and finished in the sixth spot.
“The first moto I had a decent start and got behind [Kyle] Chisholm on like the third lap, probably,” Weimer said. “I felt like I could’ve made a move, but he was riding really well and I had a goggle malfunction and had no tearoffs, so I just struggled with vision the whole race and got stuck in a rut and couldn’t go anywhere. I was a little bit bummed out, but it happens.”
In moto two, Weimer fell in the first turn, along with teammate Blake Wharton and quite a few other riders. Despite the setback, he was still able to fight his way all the way up to ninth.
“I actually probably had about the same kind of start again, or maybe even a little bit better, but I honestly don’t really know what happened,” Weimer said. “Dudes were going everywhere, and I got slammed into, and then I got hit from behind and went down and got my left shoulder run over. I was pretty bummed, thinking it was going to be a long moto, but I just started riding and just held a steady pace the whole race and never stopped going. I ended up catching up to ninth, so I felt like I rode pretty well for where I started and the guys that I was around. I felt like I made the best out of it that I could, and I made some good passes and had some decent lines, so...”
It was Weimer’s best performance ever at Southwick, and the 6-9 score landed him fifth overall. He’s solidly fourth in the points standings with one round left to run.
Dan Reardon is somewhat used to racing in the sand from his championship days in Australia, but the sand isn’t the same there as it is here.
“There is [a lot of sand in Australia], but it’s different,” Reardon said. “I kind of expected Southwick to be a little bit different... You expect sand to be just sand, but it kind of wasn’t just sand – there were a couple of rocks and there was a hard base. It was unusual. I found it hard to be 100% comfortable. I couldn’t trust the dirt 100%.”
However, Reardon performed well. He started outside the top 10 in the first moto, and soon landed at the back of a freight-train of riders from fifth (Chisholm) to his spot in eighth. But he was unable to make any passes stick on the riders in front of him, and he finished eighth. In moto two, a worse start meant he had to fight his way up from well back in the pack.
“The first moto, the start wasn’t the best,” Reardon said, “but it was better than the second moto. The second moto, I got tangled straight out of the gate and I was definitely at the rear end of the pack going into that first turn. There is a bunch of guys that are so fast that it’s hard to beat them if you don’t start with them.”
He ended up with an eighth in the second moto, too, which landed him sixth overall on the day. He also moved up to 13th in the points chase despite missing a few motos with injuries.
And finally, in his second ever National, Blake Wharton had a bit of a coming-out party at Southwick. In moto one, he grabbed his first-ever AMA National holeshot, just in front of Brett Metcalfe, Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey, and led the trio around for more than four laps before Villopoto finally found a way past the young Texan.
“I had a good start, and I led it for a couple laps, I think, which was good,” Wharton said. “I guess the longer you can stay up there, the better. At Millville, I was in second for a while, and this time I was in first for a little while, so next week I’ll hopefully improve on that and see what my overall finish will be.”
Wharton had the benefit, for the first time, of seeing a clear track ahead of him, and he seemed to like it out front.
“It was good,” Wharton said. “If you get that, that’s good, but you don’t really get that much, because you’ve got fast guys up there all the time. You pretty much have to get the holeshot to get that. Having a clear track is good, because it’s pretty sandy here.”
Unfortunately, as mentioned previously, he went down in the first turn in moto two and could never quite work his way back up to the front.
“The second moto didn’t really go the way I wanted it to,” Wharton said. “I fell in the first turn. I tried getting in there to get a good start and I ended up falling. Then I fell again. But next week, my second moto should be better.”
Still, his 4-28 score was good enough for 10th overall, and more importantly, he learned a lot.
“Yeah, it’s about learning and not making the same mistakes, you know?” Weimer said. “Improving is pretty much what it’s about, and that’s what I’m trying to do. So we’ll see.”
The GEICO Powersports Honda team now heads to the season-finale AMA National this Saturday at Steel City Raceway in Delmont, Pennsylvania.
Team Sponsors: GEICO Powersports, Honda, Planet Fitness, No Fear Energy, AMSOIL, Factory Connection, Torco Racing Fuels, No Fear, Shoei, Gaerne, Spy, DVS, Cycra, Dunlop, EK, Ferodo, Hinson, Ogio, One Industries, Pro Circuit, Renthal, Showa, TAG, Twin Air, and Works Connection.
Southwick Lites Overall:
1. Ryan Villopoto 1-1 Kaw
2. Ryan Dungey 3-2 Suz
3. Brett Metcalfe 2-3 Kaw
4. Kyle Chisholm 5-5 Kaw
5. Jake Weimer 6-9 GEICO Powersports Honda
6. Dan Reardon 8-8 GEICO Powersports Honda
7. Nico Izzi 11-7 Suz
8. Matt Lemoine 7-12 Yam
9. Ryan Sipes 38-4 KTM
10. Blake Wharton 4-28 GEICO Powersports Honda
AMA Lites National MX Championship (After 11 of 12 rounds):
1. Ryan Villopoto (535/8 wins)
2. Ryan Dungey (418/2 wins)
3. Brett Metcalfe (347)
4. Jake Weimer (286)
5. Nico Izzi (254)
6. Ryan Sipes (210)
7. Kyle Cunningham (191)
8. Trey Canard (173)
9. Josh Grant (173)
10. Kyle Chisholm (170)
13. Dan Reardon (152)
