Drag Illustrated Issue 164, January 2021 | Page 94

PDRA PRO NITROUS MOTORCYCLE

PDRA PRO NITROUS MOTORCYCLE

TRAVIS DAVIS

It was an unusual year for the PDRA ’ s

Pro Nitrous Motorcycle class , with short fields at most races and an entire race taken off the schedule . But what wasn ’ t out of the ordinary was Travis Davis putting on a clinic , winning his third world championship in four years .
“ When you ’ re cut back like that , you just have to make every round count and win the race or make the final round and keep going ,” Davis says of racing with less rounds and one less race .
Aboard his Timblin Chassis-built Hayabusa , Davis collected victories at the first two races of the year . When class veteran T . T . Jones passed away just days before the Mid-Atlantic Showdown in Virginia , the class collectively decided to sit out the race in his memory .
Drag bike icon Paul Gast defeated Davis in the final round of the Summer Shootout , Davis ’ only on-track loss of the season . He won the DragWars final round over Ashley Owens , locking
up his second consecutive world championship in the process .
“ We done so good early in the season that I stretched the points lead out ,” Davis says . “ I already had the championship locked up before we went to the last race , whereas in previous years it came down to within a round at the World Finals . We had more round wins this year , but we were short on bike counts . At some races , we didn ’ t have to go but three rounds and we were done .”
Davis also shared runner-up honors with Chris Garner-Jones at the World Finals , as the final round wasn ’ t completed before rain and humidity led to the cancellation of the remaining rounds .
On top of the PDRA title , Davis also won the XDA Pro Extreme championship with his turbocharged , methanol-burning bike . The two series schedules meshed perfectly by the time pandemic-related schedule changes and cancellations
shook out , allowing Davis to chase and secure both titles .
“ There again , we were only racing for a championship in three races ,” Davis says . “ I won two of them and went out second round at the last one . The two different combinations are totally different , but I have a lot of knowledge with turbo stuff . That ’ s what I did prior to the nitrous program . Two totally different rides , two totally different tuning aspects .”
With support from manufacturers like Timblin Chassis , Fast By Gast , MTC , Schnitz Performance , Worldwide Bearings , Perry ’ s Performance , Cycle Masters , Nettles Cabinets , Kipp Pittman and Shot Gun Graphics , Davis will chase a fourth PDRA championship in 2021 , while attending XDA races as time allows .
“ We ’ re planning on running the six races and just coming right off the trailer where we left off ,” Davis says . DI
PHOTOS : TARA BOWKER , COLE ROKOSKY
BOB DILL NMRA Truck & Lightning | KEVIN MCKENNA NMRA Super Stang
94 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 164