After finishing off last year with some solid runs late in the season, Eric Yorke came out of the box strong this year, winning three features, a second and three fifth place finishes.
“Basically I’m surprised that I’ve been able to be so consistent and I’m leading the points right now so I’m pretty happy the way the season is so far,” Eric Yorke says. “I mean, I have three feature wins and I can’t really complain.”
The points lead, now up to 80 points, is the biggest in the three divisions that run at Sunset Speedway. Though don’t think it’s easy for the driver of the No. 51 Can-Alignment Motorsports, Solex Steel, J & D Tire, McKeown Collision and Milton NAPA Auto Parts Nissan as he says it’s been getting tougher each week.
“I mean, I’ve had to add more weight – they made me add more weight to try to slow me down,” he says. The rule is once a driver has three feature wins, they have to add 50 pounds. “Plus, the cars here, they’re playing with set-ups, getting faster and there are new guys coming in. It’s getting harder and harder every week, especially when you got to come from the back and fight your way through, you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
With having to start near the back of the field as the point leader, the goal for the rest of the season is to keep the consistency going.
“I want to be consistent every week, try to get top fives every week and hopefully at the end of the year, I’ll walk out with the championship,” he says.
Yorke got interested in racing after going to watch his cousin race.
“I went and watched him race and I said, ‘One day, I gotta do this’,” he says. “So went out, bought a car and the rest is history. Been racing for about six years.”
In his six years of racing, the biggest lesson that Yorke has learned is you got to give an inch to take an inch.
“If you push guys around, they’ll push you right back,” he says. “So you gotta have respect for the guys on the track and they’ll respect you right back. I don’t wanna take home a torn up car every week on the trailer, so gotta respect the guys on the track.”
Beyond thanking his sponsors for their support, he would like to thank Mike at Partimer Signs for decaling my car and his parents my mom and dad.
“They’ve been helping me out every week, always come with me to racing,” he says.
Away from racing, Yorke enjoys biking and riding trails. One of his heroes is x-games superstar Travis Pastrana.
“I’ve watched him in the rally car, the bike, and he’s one of my favourite athletes,” Yorke says.
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