Jake Havens

Greetings!  My name is Jacob Havens and I LOVE drag racing motorcycles!  I reside in the suburb of Mill Creek, approximately 30 minutes North of Seattle, with my girlfriend (who happens to be my crew chief!) and our lovable 5 year old yellow Labrador.  Win, lose or simply helping a fellow racer, it’s easy to say that WE love drag racing motorcycles.  

I currently race a custom painted blue-flame 1983 body-style Suzuki GS1150 dragbike.  The chassis/engine is custom built by Brian Hudson Racing, a close friend of my Father.  Wielding a 1397cc displacement high-compression engine this bike consistently runs the ¼ mile in the 8.80-8.90 range at 145 MPH.  Other races vehicles include a green 2004 Kawasaki ZX-10R and a blue/white 1991 Suzuki GSX-R1100 (mentioned later).  The ZX-10R is in the build stage; however it is one of the fastest stock motor bikes in the Northwest with a low-ET of 9.17 at 154 MPH.  Track prep is the main concern when selecting which motorcycle will be raced at a particular event.  Safety always trumps a faster ET/MPH.  A 2004 Honda CRF50 transports my crew chief around the pits, with the remaining set-up consisting of a 2010 Ford F150 for towing a 6x12 enclosed trailer.

My racing career began in the spring of 2006, with my Father being the inspiration for motorcycle racing a long time before.  He has been drag racing motorcycles since the day he purchased a brand-new showroom floor Suzuki GSX-R1100 in 1991.  Over the years the motorcycle went from OEM stock to a full-on dragbike.  He owns that motorcycle to this day.  It was the very first dragbike I ever rode and also the bike that earned me a NHRA Sportsman Motorcycle license and first track championship in 2006.

My Father was bar none my influence to enter the sport of drag racing motorcycles.  I fondly remember observing the process with which his stock Suzuki GSX-R1100 turned into something so much different, and so exciting.  The industry standard blue and white color scheme of Suzuki was something I dreamt of often.  I wanted a motorcycle and wanted to drag race.  As a kid, the stands and the pits were where I began to hone my skills, constantly trying to learn as much as I could about the world of motorcycle drag racing, knowing that one day it would be me racing along his side.  As I have progressed, through the early part of my hopefully long and successful motorcycle drag racing career, I see so much more than a ¼ mile stretch of concrete and asphalt, I see the friendships.  Never in my life have I experienced such bitter rivalries, only to dissipate like smoke from a burnout with a firm handshake and a smile back in the pits afterwards.  Motorcycle drag racers are a family of two-wheeled adrenaline junkies, and I love being in this family!

During the last race season I participated in a variety of events at my local dragstrip, home of the NHRA Full Throttle Northwest Nationals, Pacific Raceways.  Racing on a limited budget I was able to amass a 2nd place overall finish in the ET Motorcycle class that included 3 runner-ups and a win.  In addition, I participated in the Pacific Raceways Dragbike Club (PRDC) held on Wednesday evenings throughout the season.  Despite a rain-shortened season, I was able to capitalize with a semi-final appearance, a runner-up and 2 wins, and successfully secured the Pacific Raceways Dragbike Club Championship and will be defending it during the 2011 racing season.  The greatest victory of the season came at the Division 6 NHRA ET Finals in Mission, B.C.  With the Top 4 motorcycle drag racers from each of the 17 NHRA tracks in the Northwest Division competing head-to-head, I finished with a semi-final appearance in NHRA Summit Racing Series Northwest Race of Champions and win in the NHRA Summit Racing Series Division 6 ET Finals Motorcycle class.  Next year, I plan to defend my Division 6 ET Finals championship in Boise, ID at the conclusion of the season.

2010 Season Results:
2010 Pacific Raceways ET Motorcycle Runner-Up (1 win, 2 runner-ups, many semi-finals)
2010 NHRA National Dragster Motorcycle Champion – Pacific Raceways
2010 Pacific Raceways Dragbike Club Champion (2 wins, 1 runner-up, 1 semi-final)
2010 NHRA Division 6 Motorcycle Race of Champions Semi-Finalist
2010 NHRA Division 6 ET Finals Motorcycle Champion
 
Previous Seasons Results:
2009 Pacific Raceways ET Motorcycle Runner-Up
2009 NHRA Division 6 ET Finals Semi-Finalist
2008 (Was unable to race due to lack of funding)
2007 Pacific Raceways ET Motorcycle Third Place Finisher
2006 Pacific Raceways ET Motorcycle Champion
 

With only 3 first-round losses over the entire course of the season, spectators were able to see me race down the ¼ mile many times at each event, turning on the win light a very great percentage of the time.  With your sponsorship assistance, I will show how APE products help produce and maintain a winning motorcycle program.  Not only will it be shown through my riding performances, but the announcers will credit APE every time I make a run down the ¼ mile at a variety of tracks in the Pacific Northwest.  Additional visual promotion will be achieved through stickers not only on the motorcycle itself, but the APE banner flying at the trailer in the pits and APE patches on my leathers.  And if successful in the defense of my 2010 NHRA Division 6 ET Finals Championship, it will be APE mentioned as a sponsor in the National Dragster article!  Furthermore, a successful partnership between us could lead to a nationally televised appearance of an APE sponsored motorcycle on ESPN, if a win during the NHRA Division 6 Race of Champions is achieved!  I sincerely hope that you find my race program a good fit for your sponsorship opportunity, and I would love to provide any other information you may need (photographs of my motorcycles, truck and trailer are attached).
 
Cheers!
 
Jacob Havens