The talent coming through MotoAmerica support classes has been strong and abundant over the past few years. With the formation of the Sportbike Track Gear Junior Cup and the REVIT Twins Cup, young riders from across the globe have taken a leap to progress their skills and rise through the ranks, with the eventual goal of competing in the MotoAmerica premiere Supersport and Superbike classes. One rider who is in the midst of making this dream come true is Virginia’s Blake Davis.

Although just 17 years old, Davis has been on the U.S. road-racing scene’s radar for years and has already made quite the impression on the sport. Receiving the highly-coveted Nicky Hayden AMA Road Race Horizon Award in 2019, at 13 years old, Davis went on to begin his professional career in MotoAmerica when he joined the Junior Cup in 2020.
For two years, Davis competed in the Junior Cup, first onboard a Kawasaki Ninja 400 in 2020, before making the switch to the Yamaha YZF-R3 in 2021. Experience was gained, but positive results were difficult to come by. Nonetheless, with support from his family and the N2 Trackdays/BobbleHead Moto team, Davis moved up to the REVIT Twins Cup in 2022 on the relatively new and unproven Yamaha YZF-R7.
The team came out swinging for race one in Daytona, where Blake took his first victory, but a crash in race two kept him from sweeping the weekend. For several more races, Davis seemed to struggle with keeping the pace for running at the front of the pack, but he continued to put in the work and salvaged all the points he could. As the season began to close out, Blake finished the final five races with three podiums and two wins, including the last race of the season at Barber Motorsports Park. This win at Barber gave him just enough points to edge out Jody Barry for the overall championship. Not bad for his rookie season.

We recently caught up with Blake to discuss this recent milestone, as well as his 2023 plans. Check out the interview below!
RY: Starting out in the Junior Cup, I know you were dealing with engine displacement disadvantages across the various eligible bikes and results were difficult to manage, but you were at least able to obtain experience with the tracks within the MotoAmerica series. Now that you’ve won the Twins Cup championship in 2022, do you feel a sense of redemption for all the hard work put in over the past few years?
BD: Definitely, it was a struggle in Junior Cup really. I think it helped in my riding you know, it taught me how to go faster than others in certain places so I could try to hang with them on the straights. That really benefited me moving up to the R7 by getting that extra drive coming onto the straightaways, and it really paid off for overall lap times and making passes at the end of the straights.
RY: I was able to watch you growing up racing mini’s at supermoto events, which is something I feel we need more access to in certain areas. Do you feel like those series’ and organizations you and your family ran around to were important as you got older and started leaning towards road-racing?
BD: Yeah for sure, supermoto is really good for anything. Being on slicks in the dirt really helps to learn with sliding around a lot, and the jumps for controlling the bike in the air and learning how to move your weight where needed. Then you have the road racing part which was huge for me. I learned a lot there and I still do it. I love it so much.
RY: Yeah, I raced with your dad back then and watched how he helped you progress. It’s something I hope I can do with my own kids someday.
BD: My dad helped me out a ton. I wasn’t always on the best bikes, so I actually had to ride the bike faster than everyone else. Then, when I did get on the best bike, it really showed that I could do what I thought I could do the whole time.
RY: For 2023, you’ve made the announcement recently that you’re going to defend your Twins Cup title. You’ve got more experience now on that bike and more time on the various circuits, are you feeling more comfortable now?
BD: This is really my first time being on the same bike two years in a row, so I think I can really keep upping the game and dropping the times. I had never been to Brainerd, last year was my first time, and this year going to COTA will be new to me. I do feel like I learn tracks pretty good, so I’m excited for that. I definitely have a lot of confidence going into this season, but I don’t want to have too much confidence. Trying to stay calm, but I’m very excited for it.
RY: Last year started off well with the season-opening win in race 1 at Daytona, but you had a bit of a lull mid-season before ending it strong with multiple podiums and two more wins. How do you feel going into this season?
BD: Yeah, I think I kind of hit a stall and I can fix that up. At Daytona I had a really fast bike, so I could hang with that front group and use the draft to my advantage being a lighter rider, but I don’t feel like I was riding that bike to its full potential. I really learned how to ride the bike towards the end of the year, so I think if I ride like I did at the end of the season then I think we’ll be good.

RY: The second part of your announcement is that you’re planning on stepping up into Supersport a bit this year. You’ve stated you’re racing the Daytona 200 for sure, do you know which other rounds you plan to race in Supersport?
BD: So with the Twins Cup, last year we had one race at some rounds and two races at other rounds. This year, we have two races at all rounds, but [Twins] don’t go to every round. [Twins] aren’t going to Road America, Brainerd, or COTA so that’s where I’m going to race Supersport. The only overlapping event I’ll have is at Daytona for the 200.
RY: Speaking of the 200, how are you feeling about the event? You’re no stranger to bigger bikes or endurance racing.
BD: I love endurance races. I used to ironman two hours all the time, and I’d put in another three hours during the four hour endurance races. I’m really excited for it, I think I should do well. It’s just about getting everything perfect. We’re on a really good bike, the R6, and I think they’re very competitive. I think I have a good team behind me. My parents are supporting me on the R6, and we’ve got it set up really good. Good pit stops going, I think we can do well. Aiming for a top ten, I think that would be really nice. Just staying out of trouble is going to be the main thing, especially coming through lappers.
RY: I was actually behind the N2 pit during last year’s 200 and I saw your Dad working their pit stops, so I know you’ve got a pit crew there. Anyone else you want to shout out for supporting you this year?
BD: Yeah, we pretty much have the same pit crew that was doing the N2 bike last year. I think we can get it [the stops] done pretty quick. For the 600, we have Biothermal LLC, Robem Engineering, and Blake Davis Racing. And for the R7, we have N2 Track Days and BobbleHead Moto. I would like to give a separate thanks on the R6 to Kevin Boda. N2 has been a huge help for me, and being on the R6 is going to be good step up not just for this season, but also preparing me for 2024.
The 2023 REVIT Twins Cup season is sure to be exciting, as this ever-growing class is maturing into a highly competitive category. We can’t wait to watch Davis attempt to defend the title and mix it up in the Supersport class.
Ryan Yearwood is the motorsports correspondent for SoBros Network as well as the pioneer and visionary behind SoBros Outdoors. Follow on Twitter: @OutdoorSoBro.
Subscribe to the SoBros Network Patreon here – $5/month gets you instant access to an exhaustive content library of articles, podcasts, and videos created exclusively for our subscribers!