Ironman GNCC UTV
& ATV Race Series Report by William Yokley
Round 13: Crawfordsville,
Indiana, October 25, 2008
Crawfordsville, IN (10/28/2008) -
William Yokley finished 1st Overall today at The
Ironman UTV race. There were 71 total entries
with 19 Open Modified teams. National Guard COL
Ron Turner was the mandatory passenger in the
machine today.
Polaris
Rzr GNCC UTV Racing Summary |
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Standing
the Polaris RZR on its nose at 60 MPH
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Today was Round 4 of the GNCC UTV Race Series in
St. Crawfordsville, IN. The final GNCC UTV race
drew the largest field of the year and this series
seems to really be catching on in ypopularity. I
was leading in the points coming into this event,
and if I could have a strong finish, I could wrap
up the National Title. The four mile course was
a little longer than normal which made for a little
less traffic and fewer jams. The course consisted
of some high speed open field sections, some tight
woods, some creek crossings and hills. I was honored
to have COL Ron Turner as my passenger today. COL
Turner is the Chief of Staff in KY and has been
instrumental in building the Yokley Racing –
National Guard relationship; this would be his first
ride in the Polaris RZR.
Our first task was getting his 6’ 5”
frame to fit into the cockpit comfortably. We
let the safety belts out and got him in OK, but
his head was right up against the top of the roll
cage. I could see that it was going to be a battle
between his helmet and the cage during the race!
We headed to the starting line in a large, recently
harvested corn field. I had gotten the hole shot
in every UTV race this year, so I had confidence
that we could do it again. Whoops! Our machine
did not fire immediately, and we were at the back
of the field as we headed through the first several
corners. We banged around and worked our way up
to 7th at the end of the first lap. On lap 2,
we were third, but about 40 second behind the
leader. We hammered away and were able to catch
up and to take the lead with 3 laps remaining.
Our day was not without some mayhem as we did
get hung up a few times with some fellow racers.
When we finished, the passenger side panel was
completely ripped off; neither of us knew when
that happened!
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Taking the
checkered flag at the Ironman
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It was a great day and COL Turner had fun in
his first experience in the RZR. On the podium,
he commented how he was now hooked on this type
of racing, and referred to me as a “Maniac”
and “Wildman”; I’m not quite
sure what he meant by that! If yelling was any
indication of how much he enjoyed the ride, he
had a ball!
I want to congratulate Jarrett Stephens and Shane
Turner for finishing second and running real strong;
they led the race for quite a while. I also want
to thank Polaris for providing me with the best
machine out there and the Army National Guard
for supporting me this year. All my sponsors listed
below contributed to the success of our team this
year, and for that I am deeply grateful. We now
take a little break and start getting ready for
next season. See you there!
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