Kawasaki’s Weimer Cleans Up in San Diego

Newsflash, 8 February 2010
Weimer brought home his fourth win in five races. The 22-year-old claimed the supercross lites victory and extended his points lead to 26 with just three races remaining in the West Coast season.

Josh Hansen battled the track all night to finish 11th. In the supercross class, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto was collected in a first turn pile up, but recovered to finish fourth. His teammate Nick Wey nailed the main event holeshot and finished ninth.

Weimer kept his heat race streak alive capturing his fifth-straight qualifier victory. In the main event he took over the lead on the opening lap and led all 15 laps to extend his points lead. Weimer did face a challenge late in the main event with another rider coming close to challenging for the lead, but he was able to thwart off the advances and hold on for the victory.

“It’s great to be bringing a trophy back to the truck instead of a plaque,” said Weimer. “The weather made for a tough day and a slippery track. I just wanted to ride a clean race and hopefully come out on top. I may have been riding a little bit too cautious, but the race is over and it worked out.”

Villopoto backed up his win in San Francisco with a determined ride in the mud at San Diego. The Washington native used every inch of the track to work his way from 19th to fourth in the main event.The outcome could have been different if he wouldn’t have been taken down in a first turn pile up, but Villopoto dug deep and salvaged as many points as possible.

“There were some torrential downpours earlier in the day,”said Villopoto. “I had a bad start in the heat race. I got a good start in the main event but then Dungey went to the inside of the first turn kind of hot and slid out. I couldn’t go anywhere so I went down too. I was able to make some good passes and claw my way up to fourth.”

Wey got a great start in the main event and paced the field for the first two laps. The Michigan native chose a gate on the outside while most everyone else tried to stay inside. After the first couple of laps, Wey started tightening up and held on for his second top-10 finish with the team.

“My Monster Energy Kawasaki came off the gate unreal,” said Wey. “My bike has more than enough power giving me the confidence to do anything with it. I was lucky enough to get a great start and lead a couple of laps. I picked the same gate in both the heat and the main,” said Wey. “I got a good start both times and in the main I was fast enough to get the holeshot and collect the $1,500 check. I did tighten up a little bit. We’re still trying to dial in a setting for me. I’m still riding Chad’s set-up, but it is a little stiffer than I’m used too.”

Hansen had a good jump off the start, but after making some passes in the heat race, he was confident that he would be able to move up through the field. Unfortunately he collided with another riders bike when it rolled in front of him and Hansen went down. He steadily climbed up to 11that the finish, but he was looking for a better result.

“Tonight is like the story of my season,” said Hansen. “On the first lap there was a crash in front of me. (Trey) Canard picked up his bike and it rolled down right in front of me. I had nowhere to go. The track was slippery and I went down a couple of times. Tonight was tough. In my heat race I moved up from mid pack and finished third. You needed to get a good start tonight to have a chance.”

Though Weimer rode conservatively on the treacherous track,he still knew when he had to push to make sure he was on the top step of the podium. A good example was when he started to jump the 54-foot double just past the finish line midway through the race.