Barnes & Yokley & Roctane Finish Strong

William Yokley and John Barnes ran competitive races to finish out the 2017 GNCC season during the Ironman GNCC in Crawfordsville, Ind. Yokley rounded out the top five in Pro XC1 Class points, and Barnes finish sixth, which boosted him to seventh in the points championship. Weather played havoc with the event with cold temperatures and snow showers. Barnes started second and coped with the deep mud and slick conditions to score a sixth-place finish on his STI Roctane XD tires.

“The first lap or two it was relatively smooth but there seems to be no bottom to this dirt here in Indiana,” said Barnes of the course that quickly rutted. “As the race went on it dug in, so you had to be selective about your line choices in the woods.”

Barnes has a handful of holeshots to his credit this year, which he attributed to the significant grip from his STI tires. He also praised the tires’ ability to cope with changing conditions. Other competitors took note and switched to STI Roctanes.

“We’ve been running STI tires all year and we have them working really well,” said Barnes. “We ran the 26- and 27-inch Roctanes. I got a lot of holeshots this year. All year long we can run really hard in the woods with them. We put a lot of people on them this year.”

Yokley got a good start and was running in the top three until the final lap when a stuck car in front of him slowed his charge. After getting untangled, Yokley cruised in for a 13th-place finish on his STI Roctanes, and rounded out the top five in points.

“We had a good run going with Kevin Trantham most of the way; he and I went back and forth until the last lap,” said Yokley. “This wasn’t the ending I wanted, but the car worked well all day. It has been great all year, but the cards unfolded badly for me today. My STI Roctane tires did really well in the slick conditions.”