2credit: Steve Cox
Jake Weimer won his first-ever AMA National one race after scoring no points at High Point. His 2-1 score still leaves him 10th in points.
While he denies a link, I don’t think it can be dismissed that easily. Racing is a zero-sum game. There are only so many points available in every race, and it’s up to you to take the largest chunk, thus leaving less for everyone else. Well, when you get beat down to the point that you’re constantly scoring no points, or just far less points than your competition, that can be a serious motivator, mentally speaking. Riders get angry, and the anger leads to hate, and the hate leads to winning. Sorry, Yoda, but I think that’s what happened with Weimer in 2008.
However, maybe not this year, as the anger led to over-training, and the over-training led to worse results. What Jake needed was a change of perspective, and the way to change his perspective was to step away both mentally and physically for a little while. He did that by working on his R/C cars and driving them constantly – his brain then occupied by something new, not dwelling on the bad things, he was able to put it all back together in a jiffy.
Congratulations, Jake.
