by Chase Stallo
The Moment: Toronto
Tuesday, March 27, 2012 | 3:30 PM
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Print“I think the most frustrating thing right now, other than I should have had a podium, is that it’s unbelievable to me that some people make the main event and just roll around,” stated a dejected Jake Weimer to SPEED’s trackside reporter Erin Bates during last Saturday’s broadcast.
Weimer would later state on twitter that the comments made to Bates were in general and not specifically referring to his incident with BTOSports.com’s Matt Goerke.
“FYI. My comment I made on TV had nothing to do with my problems I had on the track. I made a bad decision and got passed. I was just generally speaking,” stated Weimer via Twitter.
After missing all but two races last SX season (Salt Lake City and Las Vegas) with a broken wrist suffered during off-season training, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer entered 2012 looking to put his name back on the map. Weimer was quick to prove any doubters wrong as he secured his first career SX podium at round two in Phoenix. One week later Weimer jumped out to an early lead in L.A. before coming together with James Stewart. He would go onto finish 11th that night.
Weimer working his way back onto the track in Toronto.
James Lissimore photo
Weimer’s ups and down have continued, with highs of podiums (Dallas) and lows of missing the main (Indy). He’s run up front a few other times only to end up a victim of hard passes. Weimer looked to be rejuvenated in Toronto. He finished second in his heat to teammate, and current points leader, Ryan Villopoto, and was in prime position for his third podium of the year, when The Moment happened.
Coming out of the whoops section Weimer was looking to cut underneath lapper Matt Goerke to line up for the rhythm section, but Goerke had the same idea, and line choice. Weimer got held up and was unable to complete the rhythm section, allowing Kevin Windham to make the pass for third. Then in a lapse of concentration Weimer sailed through the next turn and flew off the track -- costing him another position.
It’s hard to put a number on such things, but one could easily say Weimer has spent the majority of the season riding very well, with several small incidents costing him dearly in the results column. But in racing, it’s usually those small moments of trouble that add up to be very large in the end.
“It’s frustrating,” Weimer would go onto to say during his interview with Bates. No doubt it is, but at least Weimer is still healthy, leaving him with another opportunity this week to right some of the wrongs.
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Weimer hit the nail on the head with his original staement. The boys on the track are supposed to be professionals and race their asses off. This rolling around the track is a hazard to others. If they are not going race, black flag them!
Weimer hit the nail on the head with his original staement. The boys on the track are supposed to be professionals and race their asses off. This rolling around the track is a hazard to others. If they are not going race, black flag them!
Yeah, you roll for one lap and they should pull you from the race.
i completely agree with him and you guys^ there are plenty of guys who didnt make it in for whatever reason and i bet they would give anything to trade places and actually race
I totally agree as well... It could be an accident waiting to happen..
I thought he was referring to Jeff Alessi. That guy is a joke.
I think Weimer is a crybaby!
@ce33 im sure he was i believe he does it every main event he makes we dont see it unless we are there but i hear hes rolling over jumps by lap 8 or something its disrespectful on so many levels
yourself,your team,ama,fans both at home and mostly the ones in the stands, and the guys who didnt make the main for maybe getting shoved off the track,bike problems, etc
Woulda, shoulda, coulda. Dont whine Weimer. Complaining & excuses only show weakness. The 'lappers' who 'roll around' have paid their entry fees just like you (well you didnt personally pay did you?). They made the main just like you do (well you dont make it every time either do you?). So they arent as fast as you or maybe they had some bad luck or a crappy start. Not everybody gets the holeshot right? Now you wanna whine about them getting in your way? They are not part of the "elite few" so they should bow down to you? Dont make the lapper your scapegoat. They are paying their dues. Give 'em a break!
@ sprocket546 you are right he did sound like a crybaby and realized it after the fact, but the one comment he made is absolutely true he has a valid complaint there
Weimer comes off to some as a whiner, but if you look at it in an honest perspective, he is being honest. This is a trait many of the top riders lack, and you hear it week in and week out with their interviews.
I for one, would prefer to hear a rider being honest than politically correct.
if you got guys like brayton racing with a fractured leg there is no excuse for guys to show up saturday night without enough cardio to finish the races , and you might ask could i do it??? no i could not thats why jeff alessi isnt buying tickets to see me roll around on a track . We pay money to go to these supercrosses i drove 5 hrs to dallas and will be driving about 3.5 to houston this weekend they at this level have a responsibility and that is doing more than just showing up and doing enough to get in the main
if it were me id save myself the embarrassment and just not make the main hes not gaining any fans just by being there
You all can be the judge of who is trying harder than other riders... Black Flag all of the lappers. oops, RC lapped EVERYONE in one race so maybe they should have pulled everyone off the track for him?? lappers are part of racin
BTW- nobody buys a ticket to watch the last half of the racers.
For people to just roll around the track is ridiculous and I personally believe that people like that should get black flagged. It's a safety hazard, if your rolling a triple and someone triples it you might get landed on, remember L.A? The people like Jeff Alessi should be proud to make the main and should fight for every position they can get, there's riders who are loading up their bikes after their heat races that would fight. No disrespect to Jeff, but clearly he knows that about the halfway mark he's just going to roll around, so why even try? Let someone who will push will all they got have a go? Just my personally opinion, agree with it or don't, I really don't mind.
MustardDog,
you should have read the posts a little closer. This is not about lappers.
It is about the guys who get to the main and then start rolling everything before half the race is over.
If you are going to be fast enough and are on a team no less, then you damn well better be in enough shape to race to the checkers. At least clear everything and put in the laps for crying out loud!
Again Mustardstain, it's not about lappers.
I agree that they should black flag riders that are just rolling around.They are dangerous and can screw up some good racing.
OMG I F'ing love lappers!
That's what Ms Supercross calls the lap dances she gives me
@Open_Class,, well said ...
no-class, you think u can devise some kind of rule that black flags someone based on the number of rolled jumps? it is dangerous, but i dont see a clear way of stopping it, fact is the bottom 5 have been doing this for many years.
@MustardDog,, I think we are just saying something needs to be done about it. Just make sure you don't ever complain about the number of riders that get hurt each year, OK ??
Well Mus-tard,
that is clearly why you are not running the show.
Let me give you just a couple of easy ones.
Go down 2 laps = Black Flag
3 consecutive laps (some % slower than the leader) = Black Flag
Those to 30 seconds. Imagine if the brain trust running SX took a week and involved some other professionals, what could be done?
To assume nothing can be done is a defeatist attitude. Do not allow yourself to think this way, or you have already lost
“FYI. My comment I made on TV had nothing to do with my problems I had on the track. I made a bad decision and got passed. I was just generally speaking,”
Huh ?
Was Weimer rolling the rhythm lane when Windham passed him ?
JimM
Pala374
The lapper held him up as he went inside giving kdub an easy pass. Then in his frustration he blew the corner and jumped off the track and Davi got him.
He was very upset abut lappers being in the way and was vocal about it. He later did not want it to be about the individual, and made the statement you posted above.
I like that JW came back and owned it, but also agree the back marker are problematic.
Maybe a blue flag should be pull over and wait for leaders to pass and no passing on blue so you do not get passed by an alessi who does not care :-)
Weimer is just whining after a bad night. Get over it. Jake An come out swinging next week
Weimer is just whining after a bad night. Get over it. Jake An come out swinging next week
Maybe they could establish a general lap time and anyone who fails to meet that lap time would be removed from the race and also receive a deduction in there earnings from that race. That would serve as an incentive for all riders racing in the main event to keep a certain pace and allow the race to flow more smoothly.
Just a thought.
I'm all for blackflagging those that are not racing anymore and just rolling around (not just lappers) and wouldn't mind making it a judgement of the officials. It is an easy judgement to make when you see a guy riding at a pace 20 seconds a lap slower for one lap. Not a crash induced slow lap, but one where he is riding the whole track but just out there. It's a hazard to those racing just as it would be if they allowed a novice out there going as best he could. Other forms of racing will blackflag a racer that is dangerously below the race pace. Maybe Weimer is on to something.
B-KR is correct, there should be a rule for the officials to black flag a non-racer at their discretion. Someone like Jeff Alessi who has made a decent number of mains, but every single time he's just out there rolling around slow after a couple of laps. I'm sure the guys who are RACING get tired of having to lap him 3 or 4 times, plus every single time he is lapped he is technically a hazard for every rider. Even though he's not in the racing line in most instances, occasionally the guys lapping him are not either if they are in a battle. Bad enough lapping guys once, but 3 or more times is ridiculous.
I think Weimer comes off a bit whiny in his interviews, I want to like him but I have a hard time doing so. But I do not think he meant Goerke in his SPEED comments. Remember Goerke was doing a pretty damn good job RACING at Daytona. I think he meant specifically Jeff Alessi. I was hoping Grant would clean J. Alessi out for some Phoenix 2011 payback but no luck....
I am not a fan of JW, but I do find his honesty refreshing. At least he speaks his mind,and not the usual garbage that comes out during interviews. Everyone out there should take a lesson from Bob Hannah...speak your mind! Guys like Jeff A should not even have a ride, all he does in the main is roll around after the halfway point. There are a lot more deserving riders then him, that do not have the backing he does and would at least try. And of course there are others like him in the back too, I guess JW just needs more seasoning and learn how to deal with it.
So how do you tell a racer not to roll around if he is experiencing arm pump, nagging injuries that flare up all of a sudden or who knows what? Easier said than done. Many of these guys probably have the flu bug as well and sometimes it just zaps all their energy. I get arm pump just pushing the lawnmower lately.
I would define "rolling around" as having three consecutive laps where your lap time is 1.5 times the lap time of the current race leader. people rolling the track makes our sport look dumb. They take out the slow people in a short track criterion race (bicycles) for safety reasons, and it only enhances the action.
motorules is right, if you make the main you have every right to be out there as the top five, create another class do someting its not right when you have three or four guys racing for the title, and you know who its going to be before the gate drops, they complain when the lappers dont move and they complian when they dont move fast enough, supercross no matter how they try to hype it with all the little pyro, monster girls, rockstar girls, rider introductions will never be main stream, its moving backwards, all i want to see is the main event, but then i race thats want i want to see
Take each riders qualifying time then grant some leeway and establish a mandatory lap time that they must meet or be disqualified.
Another Alessi butt whippin' goin' on here. Tony has got to be proud! Hey, he made these boys himself.
15 rider mains would help.
@wiemer ,.note to self . ask RV why he has no problems with lappers.
I think the lapper thing evens out over time. One race they really help you and you have nothing but great comments, the next time they hinder you and all you can do it whine. I'd like to say JW learned a good lesson and will ride with his head up next time, but I don't think that was the problem. If you have raced enough, it's part of passing. That head game where you are really trying to predict what the other guy is going to do and at the last second, the lapper does just the opposite of what you thought and you're hosed. At first I thought it was going to be a controversial statement, but now if that would of happened to me, they would of had to bleep about 10 f words in a row. So it's just alil hick-up for Weimer. Lets face it, JW gettin to be under more and more pressure of losing his cushy factory ride if the results don't start comin. That alone is enuf to be quite pi$sy about what happened to him. It's time for Weimer to rise to the podium and stay there or get ready for a sub-factory ride. Good luck Jake. Make it happen...cause workin in the real world will give you alot more to complain about than slower riders in a main event.
This is the Big Boy Class...I think it is a matter of focus, Weimer is getting rattled at times and loses focus during the race. There was no lapper in the way when he launched himself off the berm onto the concrete floor on the lap after the run in with the lapper. He has the speed but he needs to get mentally stronger.