Polaris/Coastal/CST/National Guard/Yoshimura/Yokley Racing Earns Top Five Finish at Ironman GNCC

By John Pellan
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: October 28, 2014

Scott Kiger

photos by Ken Hill
The Polaris/Coastal/CST/National Guard/Yoshimura/Yokley Racing Team captured a top five finish at the Ironman GNCC finale on Saturday in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The final stop of the 2014 GNCC Side-by-Side Championship drew the highest number of Side-by-Side entries all season with almost 90 cars, including 38 entries in the XC1 Modified division alone.

The Ironman GNCC is notorious for its treacherous obstacles, especially in unfavorable weather conditions, but this year’s event saw plenty of sunshine and temperatures reaching the 70-degree mark. That, coupled with the thousands of spectators scattered throughout the woods, made for an ideal weekend of racing in Indiana.

William Yokely

Both Polaris-backed teams lined up on the front row once again where Team Driver Scott Kiger powered his Polaris RZR XP 1000 off the start to begin the afternoon in second place. With his mechanic Tyler King in the passenger seat, Kiger battled for the lead early on but a small mistake on the opening lap caused the duo to drop back quite a bit in the overall running.

“The RZR XP 1000 fired up so fast on the start and things were looking good at the beginning,” Kiger said. “We made a mental error on the first lap and missed part of the trail while battling with John Allen [Yokley].”

By the time Kiger got back on track, he was roughly two minutes down from the leaders, but the Pennsylvania native put his head down and began a valiant charge toward the front of the pack.

Kiger put forth an impressive come-from-behind performance to make up 18 positions in the XC1 Modified class. After one hour and three minutes of hard-fought racing, Kiger and his Polaris Coastal Racing team finished only three seconds off a podium position with fourth place overall.

Kiger added, “There’s no doubt we had the fastest car but unfortunately we messed up on the first lap and had to play catch up. It was a really nice weekend, the track was a lot of fun and I can’t say enough about how well the car worked out there.”

Kiger will finish the season with number two in the National Championship standings.

It was a challenging day for Team Driver William Yokley and his passenger Tina Yokley, who finished out the season with a DNF at Ironman. Yokley fired up his Polaris RZR 900 right away off the start but soon ran into an issue that forced him to stop for an adjustment on lap one.

Things didn’t get better from there as the defending National Champion experienced a mishap and hit a tree going into the woods, causing substantial damage to the front end of the car.

“It’s definitely disappointing to not make it past the first lap but we’re thankful everyone is alright,” Yokley said. “We’re already looking forward to coming back stronger than ever in 2015 and we can’t thank all of our sponsors for putting together such a great Polaris machine this season.”

With one victory behind him, Yokley and his Polaris National Guard team will round out the season with fourth place 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. For a complete listing of results and point standings visit www.gnccracing.com

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:

1. JB Off-Road Can-Am 41 (CAN)

2. Zakowski Motorsports/Can-Am (CAN)

3. Can-Am/JB Racing 44 (CAN)

4. Polaris Coastal Racing (POL)

5. Team Jacks/Can-Am (CAN)

6. HANS ADA (POL)

7. Snowcat Racing (POL)

8. Can-Am Chaney Racing (CAN)

9. Polaris/Rath Racing (POL)

10. Matko Racing (POL)

XC1 Modified Point Standings: