Cycle News

INTERVIEW 2016 NHRA PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE CHAMPION JERRY SAVOIE P90 cycle," Savoie said. "I've always felt like I could do anything I put my mind to and that's something that I've tried to stress to my son, Gerald. Before I went to the school, I talked to one of my friends and I asked them, 'Do you think I can do this? Can I ride one of these bikes? I didn't want to just ride one; I wanted to be competitive. I wanted to be able to win just one race. Anyway, I went to the school and rode the bike and afterwards I asked Mr. Bryce, if I thought I could do it. He told me, 'If you ride the way you did on our school bike, I guarantee you will win a race.' That's all I needed to hear." Armed with Bryce's endorse- ment, Savoie built his own team. He hired a full-time crew chief, Mar Peiser, bought a bike, a transporter, and all the neces- sary support equipment. Money was never the issue, nor was work ethic; Savoie is one of those rare individuals who can function at a high level on as little as four hours of sleep. He's up before the sun every day and regularly puts in 15-hour days running the alligator farm. As far as the race against Father Time—that was another matter. In his 50s, Savoie needed to drop about 15-pounds in order to be competitive and he needed to learn the ins and outs of the highly competitive pro stock motorcycle class. In his first few seasons, Savoie did surprisingly well. He reached the final round of the sport's marquee event, the U.S. Nation- als in Indianapolis, and finished a respectable eighth in the final points standings. Along the way, Savoie beat world champions Matt Smith three times, Eddie Krawiec twice and scored a win against Andrew Hines, proving, if nothing else, he wasn't afraid of top-level competition. Winning a few rounds is one thing and contending for a championship is quite another. While Savoie steadily worked towards his goal of building a championship-winning organi- zation, it seemed that he often drifted further from his goal. A switch from a Suzuki to a Buell V-twin proved to be disastrous and eventually, crew chief Mark Peiser left the team and was re- placed by veteran Tim Kulungian. Under Kulungian, Savoie's team began to show a marked im- provement especially after they began getting a handle on their fuel-injection setup. At the 2015 Dallas round, Savoie made the quickest Suzuki pass in the his- tory of the class when he rode to a 6.74 and the eventual victory. "We could have gotten discouraged by what happened last year but we didn't."

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