USA Insider No.166: Do You Know Peick?

Transmoto’s weekly web-exclusive column, the USA Insider, penned by Jason Weigandt, presented by Ipone.

What do you folks know about Weston Peick? It’s hard for me to judge if anyone knows anything, because he has literally ridden out of obscurity into the front of the pack – a kind of rags to riches tale I have literally never seen before. Literally. Not ever. I’ve never seen a rider go from as far back as Peick was — a Privateer who couldn’t consistently make Main Events — to a legit threat for podiums, and maybe even wins. Some are comparing him to Jeff Stanton, who went from workhorse Yamaha factory support rider who mainly excelled in the 500 Nationals, to become 250 Supercross champion. But Stanton was never this much of an underdog. Even he showed enough promise as an amateur to get Yamaha support from the beginning of his Pro days. Peick? He spent years toiling as a Privateer, and even now still doesn’t command the respect that someone of his speed level should. People just can’t believe this. Peick battling for the lead now is like Ronnie Stewart doing it three years from now. Do you even know who Ronnie Stewart is?

So how did this happen? I can’t know for sure and if I had the formula down I’d sell it to some riders instead of share it here, sorry. But I at least know some of the factors in Peick’s rise. The biggest is that he’s big — too big to race 250s. So that put him in an instant hole when he turned Pro, having to try to make his way as a Privateer in the 450 class when he could have been gaining experience and confidence against lesser competition in the 250s.

Weston’s growth curve as a rider is skewed, too. He raced as a kid, but then he and his family decided to stop racing for a while and just have fun in the sand dunes. That would be a key time that Weston could have developed as a rider, and also developed a reputation as a true talent. He was absent from the scene during those years.

His riding style wasn’t helping, either. Weston wasn’t silk out there on a supercross track in his early days. So then roll that all up— he’s branded as an unknown Privateer with a sketchy supercross riding style, and borderline Main Event material. That’s a hard stereotype to break. Peick has been fast the last three seasons, but there’s been a significant lag time before people and teams would believe it and view him for what he had become. He didn’t do himself any favours, either. Weston is one of the most hard-nosed competitors out there, and he doesn’t play the game at all. He doesn’t play games. He says what he thinks and does whatever he wants. There’s no political BS with him — and sometimes a rider in his position needs to just kiss some ass sometimes.

But now he’s here and finally all that other stuff doesn’t matter. The bottom line is that Weston doesn’t care about any of that, he’s just out for himself and he wants to win. He might be the least intimidated and most determined rider in the pits right now. That’s what’s going to make the biggest difference of all.