2011 GBC Heartland Challenge
Presented by SAFRS
UTV Endurance Racing
Carlisle, Iowa
August 19, 2011
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GBC Heartland Challenge
Endurance UTV Race Report
Team Elia Wins UTV Overall,
Yokley Racing & Team Xtreme Round Out Podium
GBC
Heartland Challenge Links |
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Carlisle, IA – The 2011 GBC
Heartland Challenge endurance race kicked off on
Friday evening with the 4-hour SxS race. Yokely
Racing was highly anticipated to take the win, but
was upset by Team Elia, whose steadily increasing
pace allowed them to close in and take over the
lead late in the race for the overall win, leaving
Yokely in second overall, but still winning his
class.
The weather was good for Friday evening’s
races and track conditions were good as racers
took off for what would be a grueling four hours
of night racing. Nineteen teams in three different
classes took to the starting line and there was
plenty of action to be had over the course of
the race.
After a tough four hours of racing, it was the
850 Modified class’s Team Elia who would
take the overall win. Consistency is what paid
off for the team. As they left the line, they
were doing well, but were still off the lead by
several minutes. The team kept a steady pace for
a good part of the race, but in the final half,
they began to pick up the pace and started to
close in on leader Team Yokely. With each lap,
Team Elia made up time and just a couple of laps
before the finish, took over the lead. The team
held their position all the way to the checkered
flag, giving them their class win and the overall
win with 21 laps in a time of 04:06:05.
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National
Guard / Yokley Racing UTV Race Team lead
for most of the 4 hour race, but lost pace
& fell back to second overall before
the finish. Yokley Racing took the win in
the Open UTV Class in their Polaris RZR
XP 900 SxS |
Open class racers, Team Yokely were the first
off the start and took an early lead, followed
by fellow open class team, Jack’s Excavating.
Yokely would eventually pull away from the other
team and hold the lead for most of the race, but
the Yokely team began to fall off the pace a bit
late in the race, and fell back to second place
overall. The team tried to remount a charge and
got close to retaking the lead, but ran out of
time, forcing the Yokely team to settle for second
overall with a time of 04:06:11. Fortunately,
the team’s time was more than adequate to
take the Open class win by over five minutes.
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Team
Elia followed Team Coastal / Yokley Racing
down to the last few laps & then made
the pass into first position to take the
overall win |
Fellow Open class racers, Team Xtreme put in
a strong effort finishing 21 laps in a time of
04:11:37 that would put them in second in their
class, but also give them the number three spot
on the overall podium.
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I
<3 Hooters UTV Race Team finished first
in the 850 limited class aboard their Polaris
RZR 800 SxS with a time of 04:11:50 |
850 Limited class racers, Team Hooters took the
850 Limited class win with 21 laps in a time of
04:11:50 that would put them in an impressive
fourth overall while Open class team, Team Donkey,
would round out the top five overall and take
third in their class.
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