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The Loretta
Lynn’s GNCC Race Report
Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, April 28, 2007
Hurricane Mills, TN (4/30/2007)
- William Yokley finished 16th overall, 12th XC1
Pro today after experiencing some brake problems. There
were 264 total racers in this race including 24 XC1
Pro riders.
Summary:
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#5 William Yokley |
Loretta Lynn’s Ranch is one of the most well
known places we race, and it’s one of my favorite
tracks. I consider this a home race for me because it’s
only a couple of hours from home and lots of my friends,
family and fans come to support me. Something new for
me this year was all the support I received from the
National Guard soldiers; they were great and I think
they really enjoyed watching all the neat stuff that
goes along with a GNCC.
The weather forecast called for rain and storms, but
fortunately it was sunny and nice all weekend. Loretta’s
is known for being very rough and whooped out, and it
really tests your bike as well as your fitness. This
place has it all; sandy soil, clay, river gravel and
lots of steep hills; also some cool open areas and parts
of the motocross track where they hold the National
Amateur Motocross Championships every summer.
I was a little worried about getting a good start because
I’ve struggled so far this year. The ten second
signal was given and low and behold, I got a great start!
I was 5th going into the woods, and at the end of the
first 30 minute lap, I was 4th and feeling really good.
The bike was working great, and the new Pro Circuit
motor has really smooth power with great torque; it
really rips on the top end.
As the 2nd lap progressed, I started having trouble
setting up for turns and negotiating steep down hills.
I knew something has happening with the rear brakes,
and it was not good. By the end of the 2nd lap, I had
dropped back to 10th and I had absolutely no rear brakes.
I had some issues with my rear brakes at the last race,
and thought it was that my pedal had been bent, but
I realized that it was more involved than that. The
rears are used heavily for stopping, setting up for
turns and steering the bike. My pace was well off the
leaders at this point and made for some pretty exciting
incidents, especially going down those long, steep downhills!
I did the best I could and tried to not lose too many
more positions; those last two laps lasted forever!
I finished 16th overall and 12th XC1 Pro. The good news
is that there were several Kawasaki R & D engineers
at the race as well as Doug Roll from Roll Design. They
analyzed things and have some ideas on how to solve
this issue. We knew there would be a learning curve
on the development of this new machine, and everyone
is anxious to help. The components on this KFX 450 are
first rate, and sometimes when we change things and
install different high performance race parts, we find
that different adjustments need to be made. We will
get everything worked out and I plan on being further
up front at the next race.
I want to thank all my fans and especially all my sponsors
for supporting me. Even though I did not have a great
day, everyone was cheering for me. No one wants to improve
and succeed more than me, and I will keep working hard.
I’m already looking forward to the next race in
Millfield, Ohio in two weeks. See you there!
www.YokleyRacing.com
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