The 3rd of August was a normal day for most of us, but for Barnes Yokley racing it meant the start of 2 back-to-back racing weekends!
The John Barnes racing team started the first weekend strongly, making their way to a father-son podium in Buffalo Ranch, Kingston. Arkansas! John Barnes participated in the evening pro race that started at 7:30PM on his Pro XP and his 10 year old son, Easton Barnes in the earlier 5:30PM Novice Class on his RZR. Without rain in weeks, the AXC series promotor was concerned of dangerous dusty conditions, so they made the decision to stagger start the races with 1 man taking off at a time with 1 minute in between.
The race started just after 7:30pm for John Barnes and co-pilot, Brandon Hallman. The duo charged hard in the first lap catching a dust bowl from the 7th place man at the end of the first lap. At that point, the duo had made up 1 minute but challenged to proceed past. Barnes commented, “There was so much dust and so many hidden objects to hit! “Every time we got close, we would get dusted out. It was a fight that we finally overcame in the second lap.”
Barnes moved into second place on time adjustment in the 4th lap, but it was short lived asa mistake occurred. Barnes reminisced, “The terrain reminded me of an area I grew up riding called Wilder Mountain in Tennessee. I was really enjoying the day in the Ozarks unit I flipped on our side at the end of the 4th lap.” Barnes was climbing up an incredibly difficult rock hill when he slid off the trail and teetered onto a tree. His co-pilot was able to shove the RZR back onto its feet. Going into the last lap, they had fallen back into 3rd down a minute. Never giving up, the team gave it all they had to the checkers landing on the podium in third.
It was an exciting day for little Barnes (Easton) as well. The series did not have a youth class but agreed for Easton to race his RZR in the novice class. He was so excited to make it up to the stage finishing 2nd for the 10:00 pm podium celebration.
That wasn’t the end for Barnes Yokley Racing as they were on their way to Indiana for the 8th round of the Midwest Cross-Country
New weekend and a new state for the John Barnes RZR team. Last weekend finishing on the podium in Arkansas and a quick turnaround to
be in Bowling Green, Indiana, the team rushed to get ready. The Pro XP powered team put in a charge on Saturday, but a failing charging system pushed them back holding onto 4th place at the checkers.
Saturday’s weather was wonderful at 75 degrees, but the area had not received much rain except for the area around the pits via water truck. As the race kicked off at 6:00PM, Barnes got a good jump off of the start but was blocked out pushing him back into 7th place. The first lap was gnarly as passing occurred back and forth as lines were being established through the rolling land.
As the laps clicked off, the RZR started running hot on the verge of limp mode. Barnes, assuming the radiator fan was failing, turned on the secondary radiator fan. This caused the power steering to waver. Barnes commented, “We were not having the best of days and just trying to maintain our position.” The RZR had made its way up to 4th place. The massive amount of dust in the cornfields turned out to be a favor for the team in the quest to maintain position. In the last lap, things took a turn for the worse as the wastegate lever broke off the turbo causing the machine to lose most of its power. Barnes added, “I knew we were sitting ducks, so I focused on holding the main line to make someone earn it if they wanted by.” The strategy worked keeping the team in the top 5 and finishing in 4th place.
With much racing to do this season, the team will continue the tour of RZR events from Missouri to Pennsylvania to Indiana finishing the season in Iowa in October.
Congratulations to the whole team from the entire Elka family! We’re proud to count you guys as Elka Athletes. Here’s to many more years of racing!