The P-Dubs are back behind the gate for another season, and so are some of the youngest racers at the track. These kids are barely out of preschool, but they’re already out there riding the same track as everyone else and learning with every lap. They may be little, but there’s plenty of speed in this group, and at the South Texas State Championship season opener at 3 Palms last weekend, some familiar names quickly found their way to the front.
Roczen Davis is the younger brother of Ryder Davis. Two kids in the P-Dub class at the same time? The Davis family definitely has their hands full on race day.
One of those familiar faces was 2026 Winter Series P-Dub champ Ryder Davis. Davis snuck his way through the inside to grab the holeshot and led the pack of Rugrats through the opening sections of the 3 Palms GP track.
Kacen Dillon, Eli McKeever and Roczen Davis followed close behind, with Roczen putting the pressure on McKeever for third. He showed him the front wheel, but McKeever held strong. Up front, things took a turn when Ryder Davis suddenly disappeared from the running. Where’d he go? Your guess is as good as ours. Either way, we wouldn’t see him again until Moto 2.
With Davis gone missing, Kacen Dillon inherited the lead heading into lap two. (Oh hey, did we mention Dillon is just coming back from a leg injury? Not a bad way to make your return.)
McKeever was holding strong in second, with Ryder’s little bro Roczen sitting third. The three up front settled in from there, while Haiden Johnson had his hands full with Tucker Strange closing in behind him. Johnson found another gear and kept Strange at bay.
Remember our missing leader from Moto 1? Well, Ryder Davis was back for Moto 2. Some P-Dub troubles were behind the disappearance, the crew apparently found the right combination of magic to get her going again. Whatever they did worked, because Ryder ripped the holeshot again in moto two.
Dillon quickly worked his way into second, and with a Moto 1 win already in his pocket, we figured he’d done enough P-Dub mathematics to know second would get the job done for the overall. But around the halfway point, Dillon started reeling in Davis and putting some heat on the leader. Behind them, McKeever quietly held down third, while little Davis ran fourth until Haiden Johnson made his way by midway through the race.
With one lap to go, Ryder Davis looked to have Moto 2 handled. Dillon sat close behind in second, McKeever continued his consistent day in third, and Johnson had worked his way past little Davis for fourth. Then Roczen took a hard one right as the white flag came out. The little dude was done, or at least he thought he was. Mom picked him back up, put him on the bike and basically told him, “Nope, you’re finishing.” Roczen eventually got back rolling.
Davis crossed the line first and threw his hands up to celebrate the Moto 2 win, while Dillon rolled through in second knowing the bigger prize was his.
A 1-2 day put Kacen Dillon on top of the box, and after spending some time off the bike with an injury, that’s one heck of a way to make a comeback. We’re hoping to see a red plate on that machine when round two rolls around at Irondog in two weeks.
Two motos down, and the P-Dubs have already given us plenty to talk about. Dillon is back, Ryder Davis hasn’t lost a step when his P-Dub plays nice, and McKeever quietly put together a solid day. Add in some good battles, a hard crash, and a little Mom motivation, and the Rugrats gave us just about everything we could ask for in Round 1.
