A Career Begins Abroad When PJ switched to road racing in 2006 it was a steep learning curve, but the novice was eager to absorb all he could. Things started to get really serious when he was invited by the MotoGP Academy to come over to Europe in 2007. Dani Pedrosa’s mentor Alberto Puig dropped him off at the Academy. Though just 13 years old, PJ was thrilled by the opportunities offered to him. He admits it was not always easy. “I did a couple of tests with them and they chose me to do the last four races of the year,” PJ recollects. “It was a little hard, you know. I had never done that before. I was in hotel rooms with a kid from Germany and a kid from Spain. I did not really know what was going on! Then I started making some friends, but it was definitely hard in the beginning. Jonas Folger,” who races 125 GPs now, he says, “was one of my best buddies.” Two years after his introduction to the European scene PJ made his debut on a world level when he got a wild card ride for the Indianapolis GP. At 15 he was the youngest American on the grid. He finished outside the championship points. “MotoGP is definitely the most difficult series,” he says. “I think that with a little more time with the bike we could’ve had a better result at Indy. But I was pretty happy I could race in front of my home crowd.”
AMA paddock is quite good. That’s the most important thing about racing: you just want to have fun and be friends with everybody.”
Taking It to the Next Level This year PJ went through some important changes. He signed a deal with REV’IT! USA and Celtic Racing, and decided to race a Ducati 848 Evo this year in the AMA SportBike class. Making the change from his Suzuki GSX-R600 in line four to the Ducati’s roaring V2 went smoothly, thanks to his close work with legendary Ducati guru Eraldo Ferracci, whose Fast by Ferracci became a household name in racing all over the world over the last few decades. “Eraldo tells me a lot of stories about Doug Polen and Freddie Spencer, who he used to work with, about what they used to do. That helps me, too,” PJ says. “It took me a while to get used to the Ducati, but now I’m really liking it. The 848 Evo is an awesome bike and it fits my style well. Having Eraldo behind the bike definitely helps a lot. He gives me a lot of input on my mistakes, so I’m learning all the time. When I do something wrong he tells me what Doug and Freddie did, and they’re good examples. He is really focused on me right now. He’s still got the racing itch, like he says himself.”
“ The REV’IT! leathers are awesome ”, PJ says. “ I crashed twice, but they’ve held up great. I had no scratches or broken bones. The leathers and the gloves fit perfectly. The colours come out great too. ” Then, the Grand Prix first timer got an incredible opportunity: fourtime world champion Jorge Martinez offered PJ a spot on the illustrious Aspar Team, the Spanish 125 championship team. “I did the last two races of 2008 for Aspar. They liked me, I liked the team, and I got a ride for the following year. It was hard again, but I got to learn the tracks. I tried to be patient with myself, aiming to get top five in the championship – which I did. My dad, my trainer Josh, and my best friend Shane came to my last two races. They were cheering for me and that was cool. I would love to do it again.”
Back on Home Ground After the 2009 season PJ decided to return to the United States. “Jorge is an awesome guy. I think he really liked me and he wanted me to stay, but I decided to go back to the States and go the 600 route. I saw a lot of guys going from 600 to 1000 Superbikes, so I wanted to get off the 125s. I also wanted to ride for Barry Gilsenan from Celtic Racing in the States. That was something I’d wanted to do since I was eleven years old. We did that for a full year in 2010 and I was pretty happy with that. I was eleventh in the championship. I knew it was going to be a learning year.”
The season started off with a disappointing weekend at Daytona, but Jacobsen came close to finishing on the podium at the next race, at Infineon Raceway. He knows it might be a winding road ahead on his way to the top. “Everybody’s also racing for a job the following year, so with the economy as it is now you really have to show your stuff. Racing in the AMA is not easy.” PJ is not put off by the prospect of hard work. His sights are set on a future of international racing. “I want to do well. I’m trying to push myself and mature. I want to get some race wins and get into the top three in the championship. If we do well this year, it would be great to do Superbikes next year, but we will have to put in some good results before we get that happening.” He’d like to return to where he began his career. “Obviously I’d love to come to Europe again someday. Moto2 is a crazy class. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff going on and you can never predict who’s going to be up front. There’s a lot of talent in there, but I also like World Superbike.” PJ knows his focus must remain on the 2011 season before pursuing even higher goals. He is determined to make it work this year. “We’re going to charge hard this year and get some wins. The Fast by Ferracci Ducati 848 Evo is going to be on the top of the box soon.”
The transition back to the AMA tracks went quite smoothly, PJ says. He thinks his European experience helped him to master the U.S. circuits. “The tracks here are quite different,” he says. “There is not so much runoff here, but we all just love to race and we don’t really care. But I think my time in Europe helped me a lot. The corner speed of a 125 is very high, and most of the tracks have nice sweeping corners. I took that to the circuits in the States. I was fast last year at Miller and that is a fast and flowing track.” He enjoys being back. ‘The atmosphere in the
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