John Barnes Top 10 at Wild Boar GNCC
NAC Racing GNCC UTV Race Report

Palatka, FL (3/15/2016) - NAC Racing experienced a tough day at the GNCC Season opener in Palatka, Florida but despite the challenges, the team captured a top-ten finish in the XC1 Pro Side-by-Side Class.

John Barnes & Philip McGhee powered through the Florida sands in thier NAC Racing Polaris RZR

Team driver John Barnes and his co-pilot Philip McGhee began round one on the second row, based off their National No. 8 finish from 2015. As the green flag dropped, Barnes powered his Polaris RZR to the first corner, where he battled back and forth with the group. By the end of lap one, the duo had made their way around everyone on start row two, and most of row one. As they headed into lap two, Barnes was physically third on the track behind defending champion Kyle Chaney and Tim Farr.

By the end of lap two, the team had pushed into second place physically, making a great line selection to pass Tim Farr in a tight section of the woods. However, they soon experienced an unfortunate incident that forced them to pull over and replace a belt.

John Barnes & Philip McGhee finished 9th in the XC1 Pro UTV / SxS Class

"About one mile into the third lap, we destroyed the belt," Barnes commented. "Luckily we had an extra belt in the glove compartment so we pulled over and changed the belt, losing about ten minutes with the time change."

Despite the setback, the team was able to charge back to a 9th place finish in the highly competitive XC1 Pro Class and 12th overall at the opening round. Barnes will start on row two at the second round, after gaining valuable points in the championship standings

"The Polaris machine really flowed well through the tighter parts of the woods, which gave us a big advantage," Barnes added. "I am confident that we would have had a podium finish if we did not have the belt failure."

The team would like to extend a big thanks to our sponsors: STI Tire & Wheel/ Roctane HD tires gripped extremely well and allowed us to have an advantage, the OMF wheels held up great under the torture we put it through, the Yokley Racing suspension handled amazingly throughout the whole race, the Super ATV components allowed us to get through the race with their products holding up 100 percent, SSI did a great job on all the decal package. A special thanks to New Appearance Cabinet for making it possible to get to the events and Total Medical Solutions for putting the program together. The trailer wrap looks incredible provided by CCAD.