INTERVIEW
2016 NHRA PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE CHAMPION JERRY SAVOIE
P94
"We could have gotten discour-
aged by what happened last year
but we didn't. He just went back
to work and tried to make the mo-
torcycle better. Tim learned some
new stuff; he's always learning
and we just told ourselves that we
were going to be better this year
than we were last year. We were
able to do that.
"I know that I'm a year older
now but I still feel good; I knew I
could still ride the bike and do it
at a high level. I've never had any
doubts about that. We always
felt that if we kept working hard
and never gave up, good things
would happen to us."
Savoie's preparation and at-
titude paid off in 2016 when he
reached the final round at back-
to-back rounds in Atlanta and
Englishtown, NJ., Even though
he lost both finals, he felt that
the team was continuing to move
in a positive direction. Savoie
ultimately didn't win a race until
the start of the Countdown to the
Championship, NHRA's six-race
playoffs. He was trailing both
Hines and Krawiec but closed
the gap after winning the St.
Louis round. A runner-up finish
in Dallas made the battle even
tighter and after Savoie ran the
table at the penultimate round
in Las Vegas, sweeping all 130
available points by qualifying on
the pole and posting the quick-
est run of each session, the
championship battle headed to
Pomona in a virtual three-way tie.
Given the strength of the
three championship contend-
ers, many expected the race
for the title to come down to a
winner-take-all final round and
Savoie figured to be one of the
finalists. It didn't exactly work
that way. In qualifying, Krawiec
led the field, while Savoie was
Savoie actually owns and operates
the White Alligator team, making the
2016 title that much sweeter.
