As a motorcycle racing journalist, I think Americans sometimes forget about P.J. Jacobsen (Facebook & Twitter). That’s a shame, because the 22-year-old finished second in last year’s World Supersport Championship, and again is a top contender for the title in this year’s WSS Championship.
Despite successfully making the jump from the US national racing scene to the race tracks of Europe, it seems Americans have a hard time remembering that they have a fellow countryman rising up the ranks of motorcycle racing’s elite.
Americans are obsessed about asking who will be the next great American champion, and when they do so, they talk about riders still in the AMA/MotoAmerica paddock, or talk nostalgically of GP riders of old, like Colin Edwards, Ben Spies, or Nicky Hayden.
While there is certainly cause for excitement about Nicky Hayden’s entry into the World Superbike paddock, the reality is that P.J. Jacobsen has quietly been climbing the ranks of motorcycle racing at the international level without anyone noticing. He might be America’s next World Champion, yet only diehard race fans know his name.
In the hopes of changing this situation, we plan to bring you a few stories about P.J. over the course this season. Our first opportunity so far was to sit down with him at the Aragon World Supersport round this past weekend.
It’s been a good start to the year for you PJ, and you’ve at least been able to show that you can fight at the front again. How do you assess the opening rounds?
Yeah, it’s been not too bad of a start. I think it could have been just a bit better on my part. Just making some mistakes at Philip Island, but we’ve put that behind us now.
I’m ready to just…I want to really get some wins this year. That’s the main thing. I feel like the championship, we’ll be there in the hunt of it. I think the main thing right now is just to get some wins and just try to refocus and be on our game every weekend.
What did you think of the bike again this year? It’s the same bike you’ve ridden last year, but when you compare it to the Kawasaki’s where’s the strength for this bike compared to them?
I feel like the bike really fits me a lot more than that Kawasaki, just because I’m a smaller guy.
The Honda CBR600RR is a lot of a smaller bike. So I think it suits my riding style and stuff like that as well. The power of it is really good. It’s also a very smooth bike.
I think all three of the bikes right now between the manufacturers are quite close. I think it just comes down to the rider right now. My team is really working hard though. They’ve always had one of the best bikes out there on the grid. It’s really positive.
What do you think of the championship now that they’ve taken away some of the electronics? Is that good for you coming from a dirt track background?
I think that it’s okay that they took away the electronics. It helps other teams and stuff get in there and it keeps the racing a lot closer, that you could probably see from Philip Island and Thailand.
But coming from a dirt track background it helps a lot with knowing where the throttle is and where the rear tire is, but also I feel like on a 600 you don’t want to be sliding at all. You want to be straight in line all the time.
I’ve learned that even last year, and the year before, that I have to have a more straight-lined riding style, and not trying to slide and be out of control on the 600.
I feel like on a superbike you can get away with a lot more, and that’s what you need to do on a bigger bike. These 600s it’s just more corner speed and keeping the wheels in line.
Do you do that on the way in or the way out of corners?
Actually it’s in both. I find that sliding going in the corner even doesn’t help me. It’s just scrubbing too much speed off. So really just keeping your bike basically straight in line is the best way around.
When you look at this year, your third year in the class, I think you’ve built up a lot of experience now but you’ve also gotten used to racing against guys like Kenan and Cluzel.
When you look at them, what do you see that they do well that you’d like to be able to replicate? Or what do you see that you do better than them?
They’re both really good riders and stuff. Cluzel has had four or five years in this class now, and Kenan has had so many. He’s had a lot of titles. They both have a lot more experience than me still, but I feel like I still have enough experience right now to run with them.
I just need to figure out at the end of the race how to beat them on the last lap when it comes down to it. But I think it’s great. I just keep learning all the time. Like I said, I want to win races this year. I want to prove to people that I can move up to the next class.
In Aragon you crashed out of the race at the second corner while trying to take the lead on the first lap. What caused that crash? Was it nerves or trying to force the issue or was there another reason?
I wouldn’t say that I was trying to force the issue but Kenan left the door open and I went for the gap. I made a really good start from the second row and was actually disappointed not to lead into the first corner, but when I saw the gap I went for it.
At the end of the day you’ve got to attack, and that’s what I did but I crashed. It was unfortunate because I’ve not really had any moments with the front this weekend but I crashed in the race.
Your name was one that was sort of talked about to an extent with Moto2 teams, is that where you want to be or is the superbike class where you see your immediate future?
I know that MotoGP really needs an American rider. Moto2 is a really good class, really competitive. I feel like that’s another class just like World Supersport. You need to be on the right bike and the right team around you to win races and to be competitive in the top three.
If you don’t have that, then you’re just going to be a guy that’s nowhere near it. So if the right offer comes, I’d think about it because down the road do Moto2 or something like that would be awesome. But you need the right package and everything like that.
But really my main focus is just to try to win this championship this year, try to win a lot of races. I want to move up to the next class next year.
You mentioned the fact that there is an American needed. Do you see much young talent coming through the States?
Yeah, there are a lot of young, fast guys. Cameron Beaubier, he’s one year older than me. And Jake Gagne is another young guy. We’re all in the same age. Same with J.D. Beach.
But honestly if they’re making a good living in the States, and they’re happy there and stuff like that, why honestly would you want to come here? If you’re making good money and you’re happy that you’re home every weekend, there’s really no point.
You say you’re home every week. You moved on to Europe when you first came to the BSB paddock. How big of a challenge was that for you?
When I was in BSB, I lived in Ireland with my girlfriend for a while. Then the first year I did in World Supersport, I lived with a friend in Ireland in the same town that I was at before.
It’s quite hard being away from home and so long, just because I don’t have motocross bikes and bicycles, and a band and all that stuff. I’m not seeing my girlfriend and my dogs and stuff like that. So it’s really good for me just to fly back and forth all the time, or stay here for two races and then fly back and forth.
People say it’s crazy and stuff like that, but really it’s like a six, seven hour flight. It’s the same as me driving to Ohio. It’s really not that far. It’s something like going from France to here to drive. So it’s quite easy just to hop on the plane and get a direct flight back to New York.
And then I just come the following week before the next race and I get about a week and a half at home. So it’s great to just be home and to train and just let everything go. It’s really good and I like Europe a lot, but it’s also just good to get home and get away from stuff.
What’s the biggest difference then between Europe and home?
There’s a cultural difference. I feel like the food though here is really fresh and stuff like that. America is American food. But I like Europe a lot.
I like all the people here. Just like I said, the only reason I go home is because my girlfriend. I have dogs, I have a house to take care of and stuff like that. I get to ride at home all the time. It’s really hard to just move that all over to Europe and forget about where you came from.
Going back to racing in the States and MotoAmerica do you look at the national championship and think that it’s a missed opportunity, or something that just needs time?
I think some people need to give them a chance. This is their second year doing it all. They’ve came from a really hard spot with DMG and all the fighting and stuff like that that’s gone on. It’s a lot to rebuild that championship.
I really believe in Stewart Higgs and how he did BSB. It’s great for the fans and stuff. When I went to BSB the amount of fans and stuff they had going on there was just crazy. They have him involved a little bit in MotoAmerica and they have Colin Edwards, Wayne Rainey, so I don’t think it’s going to fail.
I think it’s going to grow. You see Europeans going there now like Claudio Corti and Toni Elias. You bring some Europeans there, that’s going to get more Europeans interested in it as well. It’s going to create more racing and a lot more people for Beaubier to race against and Hayes and Hayden. It’ll be a lot better.
How long did you race in the AMA championship before going to Britain?
I did two years in AMA with Barry Gilson from Celtic Racing. We just ran our own program. We did our first year on Suzukis, stock Suzukis. The second year we did it on a Ducati 848, but we had a really, really struggling year with the Ducati.
It was really hard. I didn’t really have a ride after that, so I made my way over to BSB to see what they had over there. That’s how it all got started and how I ended up in World Supersport.
You’ve got Nicky in the same team as you, how does it feel to have another American in the paddock?
He’s been a world champion and he’s got a lot of stuff he’s been through. It’s really good to have him as a teammate. If you need anything to talk about or go to him to ask some questions, it’s really good to have him there, even stupid questions about a flight or something like that. So it’s really good.
It’s really cool that there’s two Americans in the series now. I feel like America, the US, is brought back now into World Superbike and it’s really brought it up.
I feel like Nicky’s brought the US back here which has also helped me to reach some fans and some other people in the US of watching our races.
Photos: Honda Racing WSBK
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