INTERVIEW
2016 NHRA PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE CHAMPION JERRY SAVOIE
P96
second and Hines was fourth,
behind Lucas Oil Buell's Hector
Arana Jr. On race day, all three
riders advanced past the first
round of eliminations. Things
got interesting in the second
round where the championship
was ultimately decided.
Savoie was first up and took
care of business when he rode
to a convincing victory against
Steve Johnson's Suzuki. Savoie
watched on a TV monitor past
the finish line when Star Buell's
Angelle Sampey ended Hines
bid for a record-setting sixth
championship with a close
6.789 to 6.912 victory over the
Harley rider. In the next heat,
Victory Gunner's Matt Smith
left the starting line ahead of
Krawiec by three-hundredths
of a second and that proved to
be the difference in a 6.904 to
6.871 holeshot victory. At the
finish line, Smith's bike was
ahead of Krawiec's by just one-
thousandth of a second and that
was enough to clinch the title in
Savoie's favor.
"I never thought it would go
down that way," Savoie said. "I
didn't think it would be over be-
fore the semi-final round. Angelle
has been hit or miss lately but
I thought she had a chance to
beat Andrew because he hadn't
hit a home run all weekend.
When she beat him, I can't say
that was too surprising. Then,
when Matt [Smith] put it on Ed-
die; I didn't see that one coming.
I was down there screaming,
'Come on Matt.' When he won
the round, I didn't even realize I'd
won the championship. It took a
while for it to sink in. Who would
have thought that both of the
Harley-Davidsons would lose like
that? Not me. It all started to sink
in when my brother came down
and gave me a big hug and we
both started crying. My dad was
a big drag racing fan. He would
have loved this."
In Monday nights' champion-
ship banquet, Savoie delivered a
heart-felt speech that left many
in the crowd in tears.
"I am just so humbled to be
out here at my age," he said.
"Just to be able to go down the
track is special. When I started
Savoie (right) will now have a
teammate. He's added 2010
World Champion LE Tonglet
to the White Alligator team
for the 2017 season.
