Jake WeimerWith RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/Suzuki Factory Racing’s Broc Tickle out for the next four to six weeks with a broken right forearm, former Monster Energy Kawasaki factory rider Jake Weimer has been tapped to join the Suzuki RM-Z450 mounted RCH Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450SX squad.Weimer, who has more than 50 Supercross starts to his credit, had been riding a Kawasaki KX450F for Team Tedder through the first three rounds, and is 9th place in the Supercross 450SX standings, with two Top 10 finishes. Although Tickle is expected to return before the season is over, Weimer’s deal is for the remainder of the Supercross series.
“I think Jake will be a great fit,” RCH co-owner Ricky Carmichael opines. “I know he’s worked with several members of our technical group in the past and knows just about everyone on the team so that should make it a smooth transition for everyone. We will give him our best. He’s going to be fun to watch. At the same time, we want to wish Broc a speedy recovery. He had a great off-season and worked his butt off so everyone is really bummed about his injury. We’ll have his bike ready to go when he’s ready to get back after it.” Broc Tickle28 years old, Weimer has had an up-and-down career in the 450SX class after winning the 2010 Supercross 250SX Western Regional Championship. He has been on the podium five times, although a win has eluded the former Kawasaki factory rider. 2012 was Weimer’s best 450-class year, finishing the year 5th in the 450SX standings and 3rd in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross standings.“It’s a good opportunity for me to be on a team of this caliber,” Weimer said. “I know most of the guys on the team and have worked with some of them before. I have a lot of respect for both Carey [Hart, co-owner of RCH] and Ricky so when the opportunity presented itself, it was really something I wanted to do. RCH is a team that I’ve been interested in for the last few years, but the opportunity hadn’t come along so when it did, it was pretty easy for me to say yes.”As far as the rest of the 2016 Supercross 450SX Series goes, Weimer is expectedly optimistic. “As of now, my best finish this year is 8th. I just want to keep raising that bar, grab another gear, and try to be a little more competitive with the next little group of guys. This is a big, big change for me. I’ve been on a Kawasaki for the last seven years, so this is a huge move for me, but it’s an opportunity I’m excited about and couldn’t pass up.”Until Tickle returns, Weimer’s sole teammate at RCH will be Ken Roczen, who sits 6th in the Monster Energy Supercross 450SX standings, two positions and 18 points ahead of Weimer. Unable to ride the last round, Tickle has slipped to 15th place in the standings.
Hello everyone and welcome once again to the Ultimate Motorcycling podcast—Motos and Friends. My name is Arthur Coldwells.
Motos and Friends is brought to you by the Yamaha YZF-R7—Yamaha’s awesome supersport machine that is as capable on the racetrack as it is on the street. …and it’s comfortable too! Check it out at at your local Yamaha dealer, or of course at YamahaMotorsports.com.
In this week’s first segment, Senior Editor Nic de Sena rides the BMW K 1600 GT. This is the sporty bagger version of BMW’s K series of machines, those are the models with the awesome 6-cylinder engine. The GT has been given a little makeover for 2023, and Nic gives us his take.
In the second segment, I chat with one of my all time heroes—three-time World Champion racer ‘fast’ Freddie Spencer. I’ll do my best not to come off as too much of a fanboy here, but frankly it’ll be tough!
In my humble opinion, Spencer is a contender for the GOAT—greatest of all time. Sure, his career was a little shorter than some, and his number of championships falls behind the likes of Lawson, Doohan, Rossi, and of course Marquez. But at the time, Freddie literally changed the way motorcycles were ridden. 30 years before Marc Marquez, Freddie was able to push the front wheel into a slide, corner after corner, lap after lap in order to get the bike turned faster than anyone else. Freddie took completely different lines and was able to get on the throttle so early he could out accelerate anyone off a corner.
In the modern era, of course Freddie is the chairman of the FIM MotoGP Stewards panel. This is the panel of referees for all three classes of Grand prix racing. I talked to Freddie about his task there, and although for contractual reasons with Dorna and the FIM he cannot talk about specific riders, teams, or events, nevertheless his explanation of the job makes for interesting listening. It’s a tough job, and frankly I wouldn’t want to do it!
At any rate, Freddie’s new book ‘Feel’ is available on Amazon—I’d highly recommend you reading it whether you’re a fan of Freddie or not, even whether you’re into racing or not; every rider has something to learn from his mental approach.
Actually—Ultimate Motorcycling is giving away five copies of the book—signed by Freddie himself—to the first five listeners who contact us with the correct answer to the question: How many national AMA championships did Freddie win, and which years were they?
Please email your answers to producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and we will contact the winners and send you a signed copy of Feel. Those five winners will be announced on a future episode. Unfortunately for legal reasons this offer is ONLY open to US residents.
So, from all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
