Tim Weig had done the dirt bike thing and was heavily into the Las Vegas stunter scene. “I was a squid if ever there was one,” Weig says. But his life changed when he was invited to the International Motorcycle Show in Long Beach, and he rode to it via the famous twists and curves of Mulholland Highway. “I fell in love. I knew at that moment that this was what bikes were for. I don’t think I’ve done a wheelie intentionally since,” says Weig, 34, of Seattle, Washington. Weig, an aerospace manufacturing engineer, has been pursuing the club racer’s dream since. He’s worked on an AMA Pro Road Racing team, won races and titles, and is hoping for a shot on an AMA grid himself next season. Weig’s motorcycling career began at the age of 14, when he bought a non-functioning Yamaha 175 enduro at a garage sale for a dollar per cc – $175. It took him two weeks to get it running. The first time he rode it, the front wheel got stuck in a manhole. The bike threw him off and landed on him, burning his leg. Undaunted, he got back on it, and two weeks later he tried his first jump. Both rear shocks snapped off. That was the end of that bike. But not the end of Weig’s dirt biking career. After joining the Air Force, Weig had enough money to get a motocrosser and go racing in Nevada and California. He did well until he was stationed in Korea for a year. “When I came back, my competition was 16, and I was 23. It was clear that the dream of a motocross career was not going to happen,” Weig says. So Weig turned to the street, amusing himself with wheelies and other tomfoolery and shenanigans. That lasted for a couple of years until that fateful ride through the Santa Monica mountains. He was hooked. In 2005, he did his first track day with Carry Andrew and Hypercycle. Weig says he actually wrenched for the Hypercycle team at a few AMA rounds. But with money tight, Weig sold his bikes and went without a two-wheeler for four years. For every day of those four years, Weig says, he thought about racing, planned to race, couldn’t wait to get back on a bike. Finally, in 2009, he got a good job, had the money to race, and jumped back in. He bought a racebike off of Craigslist and signed up for a New Racer school. It rained on the day of that school. He went racing anyway. Racing with the Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Association, Weig scored exactly one Expert point that season. Things got better, and quickly. The next year, Weig finished 15th in WMRRA overall points and tied for third in 650 Supersport Twins. He raced with the Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association as well, notching a pair of top-five class finishes in Middleweight Supersport and Ultralightweight Superbike in 2011. Weig raced a 600, a 650 twin, and a Ninja 250, racing as much as he could, and frequently would ride all three bikes on the same day. He says racing a variety of bikes helped him get better: “Talk about culture shock! But I can get on any bike and get up to speed relatively quickly,” Weig says. For 2012, Weig wanted to branch out from the Northwest, so he chose to race the WERA West series. The year started disastrously. His 600 blew up–and blew up–and blew up again on the dyno before the season even started. He didn’t get a chance to race in the 600 classes at all. He won the Lightweight Twins Superstock race at the season-opener–and then at the next round, his Suzuki SV650 blew up. A mid-season switch of engine builders turned out to be beneficial, and Weig rolled on to Lightweight Twins Superstock and Superbike titles in WERA West competition. “The whole 2012 thing turned out to be fantastic. I met my goal, blew them all out of the water–it was awesome,” Weig says. For the upcoming season, Weig wants to get back on a 600 in WERA West competition, and he wants to race a Harley-Davidson XR1200 in as many AMA Pro Road Racing events as he can make. “It’s time to set some goals. It’s time to move back to the 600s,” Weig says. “And to me, it (the XR1200 class) is similar to the SV classes–it’s a big twin. It’s more of a gentleman’s class, less of a 600cc battle royale. I don’t think anyone out there is going to take excessive risks. And I think I’m going to ride the bike very well.” And he hopes to branch out into Supermoto racing as well, running as much of the six-round USA Pro Supermoto series as he possibly can. Weig cannot say enough about Supermoto racing and how much he enjoys it. “It’s cheap and easy and local,” he says. “I go and do a track day with my friends, it’s $38 and I get to ride all day long. I’m using a set of slicks that I bought in June, the bike is sliding and slipping and kicking and bucking–but it’s so not intimidating. It is an absolute blast.” If it sounds like Weig is scattered in a bazillion different directions, he’s not. He’s focused and diligent about his racing. His website (www.weigracing.com) looks professional, as does his pit setup at the track. Racing means something to Weig, and he takes it seriously. He wants 2013 to be better than 2012. He wants to be a better racer, period. “I’ve ridden in the back seat of an F-16 when I was in the Air Force–and it wasn’t as much fun as racing,” Weig says. “I love that it is risky, but it is a controlled risk. I love riding motorcycles, and I love proving that I’m better than the guy next to me. It’s the biggest rush ever, and I’m in control of it, and I have a way of proving that I’m better at this than the next guy–or I’m not. And if I’m not, then it drives me to train harder, to practice more, to get better. And you can never stop getting better.”