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The Steele Creek GNCC Race Report
Morganton,
North Carolina, March 21, 2009
National Guard Polaris blasting out of a
turn. |
William Yokley finished 14th Overall and 11th
in the XC1 Pro Class today in the beautiful
North Carolina mountains. There were 247
total entries with 19 XC1 Pro Riders. Team
Rider Mark Notman finished 42nd Overall and 20th
in the 30 rider XC2 Pro Am Class.
Summary
Steele Creek always makes for a rough event with
all the creek crossings, rutted terrain and
elevation changes. This year, the weather
was perfect for racing with the temps in the low
60’s. Week by week, I’m continuing to
learn more about the Polaris Outlaw and make it
fit my style. I am getting closer and more
competitive with each ride.
I got a pretty good start and entered the woods
in 8th place. Everybody in the pro class
is on good equipment and on top of their game,
which makes for some great racing. The
first lap was a freight train of the top 14
riders only separated by 10 seconds. I was
in 10th as we headed out on the 2nd lap, and had
a pretty good battle with Chris Bithell.
He decided to try to make a pass in a tight
place, and we got hung up together. I got
the short end of the situation and was back
among the Pro Am riders by the time I got
unstuck. I made it back to 14th going into
lap 4, and was only able to make it up to 11th
by the finish. The bike worked well in the
rough and muddy conditions.
My teammate Mark got a mid-pack start and
finished lap 1 in 14th place. He was
having problems with his suspension settings,
and decided to come in the pits and try to
adjust things. Usually this is a last
resort because you can’t afford to give up time
like that. But, he was losing so much time
in the rough sections he had to try something.
He soldiered on to finish 20th and found out
some areas where he can make improvements in his
set up. Like I said before, we are
discovering improvements as we race these
machines, and can’t wait to get out there and
dice it out with the front runners at the next
race.
We have a 2 week break before the next race in
South Carolina. We will use that time to
get prepared and test some new things. We
also are also preparing the Polaris RZR for the
UTV races there as well. Should be a busy
but fun weekend; see you there!
Yokley Racing Team Sponsors are The Army
National Guard, Polaris Industries, Kenda Tires,
Elka Suspension, Roll Design, HMF Exhaust
Systems, IMS/Roll, PURE Polaris Lubricants &
Fuels, Intense Fabrication & Design, Douglas
Wheel Technology, Moto Pro Training, Tire Balls,
Andrews Cycle, Tsubaki Chains, IMS, Four
Apparel, ASV Levers, CV4 Hoses, Hygh Octane
Design, PIER Graphics, Universal Handlebars,
Scott Goggles, ATVRiders.com, Hetrick
Motorsports, Powermadd, and Rekluse Clutches.
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