Kevin Yoder 2009 VORRA Sportsman Champion

GRASS VALLEY, CA     DECEMBER 17, 2009    After a very challenging seven races, Kevin Yoder completed the final round of the 2009 VORRA series and clinched the Sportsman Class Championship.  His accomplishment is history in the record books for a Rock Buggy to compete in an entire desert series with 35 competitors in the class and walk away with the title. Kevin Yoder started the 2009 season with his eyes set on the Sportsman Title.   “I knew I had a shot at the title just through consistency, but I didn’t think that I would win races,” exclaimed Yoder.  He took two first place finishes, both being in the long 250 mile desert races, and was only two minutes shy of a third win.  He choose this series to compete in because it would involve a mixture of short course racing and desert racing and was looking for that next challenge.  “VORRA has a long history of great racing and competitiveness that still remains a family type event,” said Yoder.  “After competing in it all season I will say it is a great run organization and I look forward to coming back next year!” The final round of racing at Prairie City was a short course race that started with Yoder rolling the rock buggy 1 ½ times in the 3rd turn right in front of the grandstands, giving the crowd a complete experience.  They uprighted him and called the race for a restart.  At the restart Yoder choose the more conservative throttle control option and ended the race midpack.   With not even needing to race to win the championship, he still choose to make some minor fixes in the pits and lined up for the second moto.  He wanted to take it easy, but his competitive spirit took over and he hole shotted the line and maintained the lead for a good half of a lap.  Short course is fun for the big rock buggies, but they are like a Clifford dog with big ears when compared to the much smaller and agile cars.  He again finished midpack, and clinched the season championship by 101 points. The success of the racing season was associated with having a quality vehicle that performed in all of the different conditions that the VORRA series threw at it.  Yoder is known for building multi-function vehicles and this rock buggy once again proved his talents.  The durability of this car shined with recording zero DNF’s for the year.  “The rock buggy has less top speeds than most desert cars, but the 4WD allows me the ability to drive harder out of the corners and through the rough,” explained Yoder.  He ran the first five races on the Pit Bull Tires 39” Mad Dogs with zero complaints and finished the last two short course races on the 37” Rockers by Pit Bull Tires. The Yoder Racing team was composed of mostly all Far-N-Gone Mototsports members who came out for pit support at every race, including the Yerrington race where he had a all girl pit crew for fuel.  Yoder relied on co-pilots Tom Jurach and Dean Reed to help lead him through the long desert races. “The people that have helped me this year have made it possible to even consider competing in that many races,” said Yoder. 2010 will be another great year for the Yoder Racing team sporting the new "fast red" color.  Kevin Yoder is anticipating another 20+ race season starting with the King of the Hammers in February then rolling into the VORRA, Nor Cal Rock Racing, CalRocs and Grand Slam of Offroad series.