The 2008 AMA National Motocross Championships wrapped up for the first time on a Saturday at Delmont, Pennsylvania’s Steel City Raceway, and although weather reports leading up to the race indicated a deluge, no rain reared its ugly head.
AMSOIL Lites rider Jake Weimer had a solid day at Steel City. He worked his way up to sixth in the first moto and found himself in a battle for third in the second moto. Weimer finished second overall for the day.
AMSOIL Lites rider Jake Weimer had a solid day at Steel City. He worked his way up to sixth in the first moto and found himself in a battle for third in the second moto. Weimer finished second overall for the day.
“The second moto, I had a pretty good start, and there were dudes going down everywhere,” Weimer said. “I was behind [Brett] Mecalfe forever, and I felt like I needed to get around him, but I wasn’t making it happen. I kind of got stuck in his pace, and then [Nico] Izzi got by both of us, and then I finally decided that I needed to make something happen with Brett. We ended up coming together, and he went down, and it wasn’t really intentional, but it was one of those racing situations where I thought I had it, and he thought he had it, and we came together, and unfortunately, he went down.”Weimer finished the season a strong fourth in points with 321 points.
Rookie Blake Wharton had a strong come-from-behind ride in the first moto, finishing just behind Weimer in seventh. Wharton grabbed his second holeshot of his short career to start the second moto, but went down in a slick spot a couple of turns into the race and was forced to come from the back of the pack.“I got the holeshot in the second moto, which was what I needed, but they watered it and it was real slick, and I fell down in the third turn because I washed my front end,” Wharton said. “I kept my bike running and I caught back up to ninth, which was pretty good for my overall. I’m happy.”
He was sixth overall on the day and will go into 2009 with a better idea of what it takes to run up front at the pro level, which is really what he was racing for in 2008 in the first place.
Dan Reardon was disappointed with his results at the season-finale, but similar to Wharton, he’s happy that he has a healthy season under his belt so that he knows what to expect next year. Reardon went 13-11 for 12th overall and finished out the season 11th in the points standings.
Josh Grant grabbed the holeshot in the opening moto and led the first six laps before losing the lead to eventual winner Ryan Dungey. He ran second until about three laps to go in the race when he experienced a mechanical failure – the first one he’s ever had in four years of racing with the GEICO Powersports/AMSOIL/Honda team. In moto two, Grant again started at the front and ran second for the first few laps before eventually finishing the race in eighth. Grant finished the season ninth in points despite racing only half the series, and had two podiums – at Colorado and Washougal.The GEICO Powersports/AMSOIL/Honda team will take some well-earned time off before beginning 2009 testing and returning to action for the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Open of Supercross at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 10-11.
You can catch the final AMA Outdoor Nationals race on SPEED on Tuesday, September 9 at 2:00 P.M. EST. AMSOIL is the Official Oil of the AMA Outdoor Nationals.
Until then, we'll see you at the races.
