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The Yadkin Valley Stomp GNCC Race Report
Yadkinville, North Carolina, June 21, 2008
William Yokley finished 7th Overall today in
hot, humid and dusty conditions. There
were 201 total entries with 23 XC1 Pro Riders.
Team Rider Mark Notman finished 21th Overall and
7th in the 23 rider XC2 Pro Am Class.
Summary
This is the time of the season when it’s
usually hot and dry, and your conditioning is
tested. Yadkinville is a beautiful area of
North Carolina with many wineries and lots of
ATV enthusiasts. This year, hot, humid
weather and lots of red clay dust greeted us as
we set up on Friday. It looked like it was
going to rain Sat. morning, which we really
needed, but it never came and just got hotter.
Using your head and staying on 4 wheels would be
important today, as well as a good start.
I hydrated myself well on Friday and Saturday,
did my pre-race warm up and stretching, and
headed to the start area.
I got a pretty decent start and as everyone
piled into the first turn, the typical chaos
began. I was sandwiched in between Matt
Smiley and Chris Borich coming into the turn
when I tried to make the hole bigger and squeeze
through. I caused a big mess when my rear
tire jumped Borich’s front tire and launched my
rear end straight up into the air. I just
hung on tight and was able to set it down and
throw it into the turn without crashing.
Borich wasn’t as lucky as he tumbled hard.
I went into the woods in 8th and worked my way
to 7th going into lap 2. Just when I
thought this would be a decent day, my bike
started running really badly; I thought it was a
little rich and just needed cleaning out, but as
I went down each straight it got worse instead
of better. Did I mention the dust was bad?
Without being able to open it up and cleanly run
out of corners and open areas, it made it kind
of rough for the rest of the day. I ran in
6th for most of the day behind McGill, but in
the open areas, it just would miss and sputter,
and I would get caught in the dust and loose
more time. Borich caught me on the last
lap; I was trying to hold him off, but I hit a
stump with my rear tire shooting me into a tree
where I got stuck. I limped to the finish
in 7th Overall with my air filters plugged up.
I hate something like that holding me back
during the race, but it could always be worse.
I’m just glad that race is over, it was getting
old eating all that dust!
My teammate Mark had a good day after overcoming
some adversity. He got a good start going
into the woods in 5th. The heavy dust made
it difficult to see most of the time; he
overshot a turn and hit a small creek at a bad
angle resulting in smashing his knee into the
handlebars. It took awhile for the pain to
subside and get in a rhythm, but after a few
miles he caught back up to the lead pack.
Toward the end of lap 1, his seat somehow popped
off and he had to stop to retrieve and reinstall
it, costing him several positions. Mark
put his head down and rode mistake free working
his way to 5th right behind 4th going into the
last lap. His knee was really bothering
him at this point, and he made the decision to
not attempt the big creek jump, costing him a
couple of positions. He ended the day in
7th XC2 Pro AM and 21st Overall, and sits in 4th
place in the season points.
I plan to keep training and preparing for the
rocky conditions we will face in 2 weeks in PA.
I will also be racing the Polaris RZR there in
the UTV Race, and hopefully I’ll get back on the
box! See you there.
Yokley Racing Team Sponsors are: The Army
National Guard, Rocky Mountain ATV, Polaris
Industries, ITP Tires, Elka Suspension, Roll
Design, HMF Exhaust Systems, IMS/Roll, Tire
Balls, Andrews Cycle, Douglas Wheel Technology,
Baldwin Motorsports, CGR, O’Neal Clothing,
Panolin Lubricants, IMS, Hinson, 317 Graphics,
Intense Fabrication & Design, Tsubaki Chains,
Hardkor, Shoei Helmets, Axcalibar Axles,
Streamline, Powermadd, KG Clutch Factory, Moto
Pro Training and ATVRiders.com.
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