Leaving your native country, family and friends is never easy for a teenager, but it was Jake's dream to race on the world stage ever since he started racing motocross and nothing could hold him back when he had the opportunity to join Team Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki. “I was four years old when Dad brought a mini-bike home; I had fun on it and everything started from there. We started with some local races when I was five; I rode enduro at first but I preferred motocross. I raced for the Yamaha Junior team in Australia for many years, then I moved to the 250, and last year I won my first title in the Australian MX3 series. But I wanted to come to Europe; we contacted a few people and now I’m here! I always wanted to go to Europe or USA; I have been watching the races in Europe since I was little. It’s been a dream to travel all over the world,” explained Jake, who was seventeen when he arrived at Hossegor, home of the Bud squad.
 
A culture shock!
Hossegor, close to the Atlantic Ocean, enjoys a temperate climate with pleasant temperatures throughout the year. For Jake and his teammate Francisco Garcia their life-style has changed but both have found a second family at Bud. “It's a big culture shock, so different from what I was used to, and living by my own too; it’s something I never experienced before. It’s not easy to be so far from family but it was my choice! For sure Bud is a kind of second family; they help me to stay stable and the team also helps me to remain focused on motocross,” he continued. The food, the language but also the tracks are so different to those he was used to, and it took him some time to feel comfortable. After climbing on the podium several times in the French Elite series, he finally took his first European podium last month at Matterley Basin. “This podium flicked a switch; I’m growing in confidence and I'm looking forward to more good results; I feel comfortable at the races, feel good on the bike, good with the team, and I’m just really enjoying what I’m doing. The tracks are not what I could have imagined. Everything seems so much bigger than what you see on TV; it was definitively a shock,” he admitted as he heads to the final four rounds of the European series. Even though he is focused 100% on motocross at the moment, Jake expects to enter some supercross races to increase his racing experience later in the season. “I hope to also race supercross. Maybe in the years to come I will go to USA; who knows? I like supercross; I enjoy it and I feel I’m good at it too, so I definitely want to keep training and for sure Bud is a great team for me as they are also involved in supercross. I showed some good speed earlier this year when we went to the USA so we’ll see and hopefully I will be able to follow in the footsteps of other famous Australian riders like Chad Reed or Andrew McFarlane who came to race in Europe with Kawasaki before moving successfully to supercross in America.”
 
Stephane Dassé (Venum Bud Racing team owner): “We are always looking for talent all over the world, and we have always kept an eye on Australia as they have had some good riders. We had an eye on Jake Cannon before moving there for the World Supercross, and we signed him for two years. He was only seventeen when he came to Europe, but he’s not alone as his teammate is the same age; they live only fifty metres from the workshop and spend a lot of time with us! Jake raced many supercross in the past and in EMX he has encountered new tracks each weekend, raced against new rivals and in recent weeks he has scored some good results with podiums in both the French and European championships, so we are happy with him and for sure he is now growing more and more confident.”