Madison, IN (09/26/2017) – Yokley Racing/Polaris RZR Factory Racing driver John Barnes and co-pilot, Philip McGhee, JR scored a fourth-place finish, handing Polaris’ S1000 its best finish this year in XC1 pro UTV, during the GNCC Mountaineer Run at Marvin’s Mountain Top in Masontown, WV.

Barnes and McGhee fresh off finishing second in an IXCR race last weekend, charged out of the start hard. Heading into a high-speed turn, they hit a rut. Showing great driving skill, Barnes drove out of the bobble, recovered, fought through the dust and finished fourth, marking his best effort thus far this season. He was just one minute behind the leader at the finish.

“If it wasn’t for the dust, we would have definitely had a shot at the win,” said Barnes. “We had the lead in the third turn, but we caught a rut, fell back and fought dust from there. We were on Trantham on the first lap, but I couldn’t see anything because of the dust and decided to play it safe. When I came up on someone, I tried to get by them immediately because of the dust.”

The rock sections were especially difficult this round. With more and more boulders becoming exposed as the race went on, the team had to preserve the car to the finish.

“The rocks wore out the car pretty well,” said McGhee . “We started losing the brakes when the wheel bearings got a lot of play in them. I knew by the end of the last lap, the wheel bearings would be close to breaking. So, we tried to be smoother in the rocks and go fast when we could. We were really close to losing a wheel at the end.”

Barnes/McGhee fourth-place finish allowed Yokley Racing to crack the top 10 in points going into the next race. Always a competitor, Barnes/McGhee finish was a feat many don’t accomplish in the tough sport of cross country racing.

“A top-five finish in a GNCC is a very good achievement,” said Barnes. “A lot of people never get there. It was a good weekend for our Polaris team.”

The changes the team made to the car during the summer break definitely paid off. Along with a lot of testing, they addressed nearly every component on the car–including shocks, new heads from Millennium Technologies, and a new rear end–to make it more competitive.

“We tested a lot and I think we’re getting faster each time,” said McGhee. “The car handles really well. We can push the car into the turns a lot harder than we thought we could, so testing helped us get used the car. We just had to get to that point to riding perfectly on the edge.”

As the series heads to Ohio, Yokley Racing will tear down and completely prepare the car for Powerline Park. While he is fast in the woods, Barnes wants to improve his driving in the high-speed sections.

“We’re going to do some shock changes, we’ll do all new wheel bearings, new brakes, and change anything that’s showing wear,” said Barnes. “My goal is to work more on the high-speed stuff. We’re fast in the woods, but we want to get faster in the open.”

Barnes will be looking for his first GNCC podium of the season as the series heads to Powerline Park in St. Clairsville, OH October 7-8.