Jake Weimer and Team USA win MXoN
By TMX Archives on 5th Oct 09
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 biggestOff-road event in the world not only on the track with different andintense racing as well as around the circuit with 90,000 patrioticspectators coming from all Europe to cheer the best riders representingthirty six countries.
Winner of the past four editions of thecontest the Americans were however not the favorites this year, and onSaturday they qualified in sixth position behind Italy, France,Belgium, Great Britain and Australia. Member of the US trio, JakeWeimer (KX250F Pro Circuit), was the best Kawasaki representative inthe opening race that mixed the MX2 and MX1 classes. Starting ineleventh position the American earned several ranks and passed GarethSwanepoel (KX450F KRT)in the last ten minutes to score eighth position.Swanie's South African team-mate Tyla Rattray (KX250F Pro Circuit) cameback from seventeenth to thirteenth, followed by Steven Frossard(KX450F CLS) who had a bad start. Twenty-fourth in the opening lap, theFrenchman came back to fourteenth despite a crash after ten minuteswhich cost him six positions. After a short recovery period the MX2riders competed against the Open class, and for his first Nationsappearance Gautier Paulin (KX450F Bud) got the holeshot; the Frenchmanled the entire race to win his first ever moto on a 450, while TylaRattray placed the fourth 250 in tenth position after a consistentouting. Jake Weimer claimed the worst and deductable result of theweekend for Team USA, finishing twenty-fifth after an early crash whichpushed him in last position.
After these two races France wereheading the overall classification but straight after the start of theMX1 and Open class sprint – the last of the day - Gautier Paulin wasinvolved in a huge pile-up. Several riders collided with the fallenyoungster and the Frenchman was carried to the hospital for furtherexaminations, 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 theteam to secure his position and the French podium, and he didn't battlewhen Philippaerts relegated him to fifth spot at mid-race. This strongresult ensured second place for the Gallic troupe behind USA, whileBelgium took third position. South Africa entered the top ten withninth place, despite a retirement for Gareth Swanepoel who crashed hardwhile he was in tenth position in this last race of the season.
JakeWeimer (Team USA): "Everything here is different from what we are usedto in the States, from the food to the language, the starting gate andthe tracks. We had a lot of pressure coming to this race as Team USAwon the last editions, and I felt a lot of pressure. I was pretty happywith my first race, but in the second one I made a lot of mistakes andI'm just thankful to my teammates, both of them rode amazingly well. Alot of people in the US say that we were a ‘B' team but the B team wonand 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 myfirst experience here in Europe, my feeling is really good and I'msuper-excited. The track was difficult, rutty and rougher than what wehave 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 safequalifying race in seventh position as requested by Olivier Robert themanager of the French team. Today I had some troubles at the start ofthe first heat; I was in the middle of the gate and missed a goodstart. I came back to fourteenth despite a mistake; I was stressed andgot arm-pump and crashed in a corner. I had the inside position for mysecond race and my start was perfect, I came to fourth and kept thisposition until Philippaerts passed me. I just secured my position forthe team result and felt much more comfortable on the 450 throughoutthe weekend. It was my first experience at the Nations and I enjoyedit, now I just hope to see Gautier back as soon as possible on thetrack.”
Gareth Swanepoel (Team South Africa): "On the whole theweekend was good, we had a strong race yesterday, I was sixth and Tylafifth which put us in seventh overall for qualifying. Today in thefirst moto I was doing ok, I was ninth and sixth of the MX1 ridersafter a strong race. Then in the second I didn't have the best ofstarts and started to push through when I had a big crash. Luckily Iwas not injured but I broke the radiator and some other parts on thebike so I couldn't carry on. So we were doing well until the last racereally, but one of these days. We'll get there.”
Tylas Rattray (TeamSouth Africa): "The weekend was good, my goal was to win the MX2 classand I got a third overall, which was not too bad. I had a pretty bigcrash yesterday and I jacked the bike up pretty good, I hurt my backand my hip and had a dead leg for a while. Today was alright, Iwould've liked to have done better but last night I didn't sleep wellbecause I was in a lot of pain. I tried to take some painkillers beforethe 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