Jake Weimer and Team USA win MXoN
Published: 05th October 2009
Author: Kawasaki Racing Team
Team USA clinched the MX of Nations, beating France and Belgium for the third year in a row. Jake Weimer was part of the winning team, while Gautier Paulin and Steven Frossard finished in second place
Home of this 63rd edition, Franciacorta (Italy) confirmed that the MX of Nations is definitively the biggest Off-road event in the world not only on the track with different and intense racing as well as around the circuit with 90,000 patriotic spectators coming from all Europe to cheer the best riders representing thirty six countries.
Winner of the past four editions of the contest the Americans were however not the favorites this year, and on Saturday they qualified in sixth position behind Italy, France, Belgium, Great Britain and Australia. Member of the US trio, Jake Weimer (KX250F Pro Circuit), was the best Kawasaki representative in the opening race that mixed the MX2 and MX1 classes. Starting in eleventh position the American earned several ranks and passed Gareth Swanepoel (KX450F KRT)in the last ten minutes to score eighth position. Swanie’s South African team-mate Tyla Rattray (KX250F Pro Circuit) came back from seventeenth to thirteenth, followed by Steven Frossard (KX450F CLS) who had a bad start. Twenty-fourth in the opening lap, the Frenchman came back to fourteenth despite a crash after ten minutes which cost him six positions. After a short recovery period the MX2 riders competed against the Open class, and for his first Nations appearance Gautier Paulin (KX450F Bud) got the holeshot; the Frenchman led the entire race to win his first ever moto on a 450, while Tyla Rattray placed the fourth 250 in tenth position after a consistent outing. Jake Weimer claimed the worst and deductable result of the weekend for Team USA, finishing twenty-fifth after an early crash which pushed him in last position.
After these two races France were heading the overall classification but straight after the start of the MX1 and Open class sprint – the last of the day - Gautier Paulin was involved in a huge pile-up. Several riders collided with the fallen youngster and the Frenchman was carried to the hospital for further examinations, with pain in his back and ribs. France had no more ‘joker’ as only five of the sixth results count for the final standing, but Steven Frossard had a strong race to secure a podium result for the ‘Frenchies’. Reaching fourth after the start Steven was asked by the team to secure his position and the French podium, and he didn’t battle when Philippaerts relegated him to fifth spot at mid-race. This strong result ensured second place for the Gallic troupe behind USA, while Belgium took third position. South Africa entered the top ten with ninth place, despite a retirement for Gareth Swanepoel who crashed hard while he was in tenth position in this last race of the season.
Jake Weimer (Team USA): “Everything here is different from what we are used to in the States, from the food to the language, the starting gate and the tracks. We had a lot of pressure coming to this race as Team USA won the last editions, and I felt a lot of pressure. I was pretty happy with my first race, but in the second one I made a lot of mistakes and I’m just thankful to my teammates, both of them rode amazingly well. A lot of people in the US say that we were a ‘B’ team but the B team won and I want to thank everyone in the team for the job we did together, including of course Mitch Payton and Kawasaki Pro Circuit. It’s my first experience here in Europe, my feeling is really good and I’m super-excited. The track was difficult, rutty and rougher than what we have in the US, but that was a great experience.”
Steven Frossard (Team France): “I was confirmed in the French team only two weeks ago, and I trained intensively to get used to the 450. I had a safe qualifying race in seventh position as requested by Olivier Robert the manager of the French team. Today I had some troubles at the start of the first heat; I was in the middle of the gate and missed a good start. I came back to fourteenth despite a mistake; I was stressed and got arm-pump and crashed in a corner. I had the inside position for my second race and my start was perfect, I came to fourth and kept this position until Philippaerts passed me. I just secured my position for the team result and felt much more comfortable on the 450 throughout the weekend. It was my first experience at the Nations and I enjoyed it, now I just hope to see Gautier back as soon as possible on the track.”
Gareth Swanepoel (Team South Africa): “On the whole the weekend was good, we had a strong race yesterday, I was sixth and Tyla fifth which put us in seventh overall for qualifying. Today in the first moto I was doing ok, I was ninth and sixth of the MX1 riders after a strong race. Then in the second I didn't have the best of starts and started to push through when I had a big crash. Luckily I was not injured but I broke the radiator and some other parts on the bike so I couldn't carry on. So we were doing well until the last race really, but one of these days. We'll get there.”
Tylas Rattray (Team South Africa): “The weekend was good, my goal was to win the MX2 class and I got a third overall, which was not too bad. I had a pretty big crash yesterday and I jacked the bike up pretty good, I hurt my back and my hip and had a dead leg for a while. Today was alright, I would've liked to have done better but last night I didn't sleep well because I was in a lot of pain. I tried to take some painkillers before the race, so it was ok, not too bad.”
Team results: 1.USA (Weimer, Dungey, Tedesco), 22 pts; 2.France (Musquin, Frossard, Paulin), 30; 3.Belgium (Roelants, Desalle, Ramon), 39; 4.Germany (Roczen, Siegle, Nagl), 55; 5.Great Britain (Searle, Mackenzie, Simpson), 55; 6.Italy (Guarneri, Cairoli, Philippaerts), 59; 7.Australia (Metcalfe, Reed, Byrne), 73; 8.Estonia (Krestinov, Leok T, Leok A), 78; 9.South Africa (Rattray, Swanepoel, Bradshaw), 84; 10.Switzerland (Tonus, Bill, Wicht), 88….19.Sweden (Thuresson, Hultman, Sôderstrom), 143; etc
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