Polaris/Coastal/CST/National Guard/Yoshimura/Yokley Racing John Penton GNCC Team Race Report

By John Pellan
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Updated: June 12, 2014

photos by Ken Hill

XC1 Modified Team Driver William Yokley, and his passenger Tina, lined up on the front row alongside teammate Scott Kiger and his passenger Tyler King on the start. As the green flag dropped, Kiger and Yokley jetted to the first turn but both drivers settled into a middle-of–the-pack position on the opening lap.

Kiger held a slight advantage on Yokley early on, where he kept his Polaris RZR XP 1000 inside the top-five running order. The Polaris-backed duo physically battled throughout the one-hour race but the real challenge came with the adjusted time clock, as the podium battles weren’t all physical. Teams that started on a row behind the first received a 30-second time adjustment—per row—, which aided in them catching the leaders near the halfway point of the race.

But perhaps the most difficult obstacle of them all was the heavy dust throughout the woods. Despite a dusty course at times, Yokley kept his Polaris RZR 900 charging hard through the woods all afternoon, where he caught his teammate Kiger several times to engage in battle.

“We were neck and neck but we kept getting dust and lappers in between us,” Yokley said of his battle with Kiger. “He’d get stretched out on us and then I would catch up. I had to keep pushing harder and harder and try not to break the car.”

The battle intensified on the final lap as Kiger and Yokley diced it out for the third and final podium position. Coming into the final moments of the Sunday Creek motocross track, which staked the final section of the 4.5-mile course, Kiger was poised to finish ahead of Yokley due to a favorable lead on the final lap.

However, the rough and fast-paced course conditions, in addition to the warm Ohio temperatures, exerted both man and machine at the John Penton GNCC, causing Kiger’s machine to run low on gas near the end of the race. As a result, the machine experienced a slight hesitation with the engine as Kiger powered through the whoop-section, allowing Yokley to move past for second place physically. While Kiger didn’t lose a substantial amount of time, he did lose one position to Yokley, finishing less than one second behind his teammate.

After the time adjustment, Yokley finished third overall for the day, while Kiger took home fourth overall after leading his teammate for a majority of the race.

“William and I had a great battle going out there, it was a lot of fun,” Kiger said. “The track was really rough but the Polaris 1000 worked great for us. We’re already looking forward to the fall and racing the final two rounds of GNCC.”

Scott Kiger and the Coastal National Guard team holds second place in the championship standings after four rounds of racing. With one win behind him already this season, Yokley and the Polaris National Guard team sits tied for fourth in the championship standings.

The GNCC Series broadcast Saturday’s Side-by-Side race live in its entirety on the Internet. The archived show can be viewed on RacerTV.com or by clicking HERE.

The GNCC Side-by-Side Series will resume on October 4 with the Powerline Park GNCC in St. Clairsville, Ohio. For a complete listing of results and point standings, visit www.gnccracing.com or click HERE.

Yokley Side-by-Side Racing Team Sponsors:
Polaris Industries, Coastal Racing, CST, Army National Guard, Yoshimura, Holz Racing Products, OMF, Walker Evans, Fluidyne, Beard Seats, Tireballs, SustainU, Hot Cams and Big Country Powersports.

XC1 Modified Results: