Millfield, Ohio -
It's an old lesson in Can-Am Grand National Cross
Country racing: Do not give Yamaha's BIll Ballance
momentum, because he does't like to give it back.
Adam McGill now knows what happens when you give
the eight-time GNCC Champion an inch, as Ballance
took his second-straight series win, this time
at the Wiseco John Penton GNCC, while McGill and
fellow KTM rider Taylor Kiser took second and
third.
"It was a one of those days where you
had to be smart and smooth," said Ballance.
Mud left over from Friday night rain led to
tough track conditions, even though Saturday's
racing featured perfect weather. "Sometimes
you didn't even want to be the guy up front,
just because you knew people were going to be
getting stuck, but at the same time, you didn't
want to be getting roosted."
Ballance battled McGill, Kiser and fellow Yamaha
rider Brandon Sommers all day, and the four
built up a big lead over the rest of the pack.
They went back and forth, but eventually Ballance
grabbed the lead halfway through the race and
built a gap. McGill's last-lap charge came up
just four seconds short.
"If anyone said Bill doesn't have that
fire anymore, forget it because he was going
for it," said McGill. "We would catch
a bottleneck and he would get away, and then
we would hit another one and I would catch up
to him. On the last lap, I knew I had a gap
to make up, and you can talk about being consistent
for points, but when you're second on the last
lap, it's checkers or wreckers."
Kiser believed coming in that he could run
with the lead pack, and he did that all day
for his second podium of the season. "I've
been putting in the hard work, riding here in
the area to try to learn these conditions,"
said the second-year pro from Florida. "It's
good to see that hard work paying off."
Sommers, who started the race by grabbing the
$100 ITP Holeshot Award, dropped from the battle
when he clipped a tree and found himself upside
down on the course. XC Bob/Safari Motorsports
Matt Smiley picked up the pace to take fourth
and nearly run down Kiser for third. "I
was actually ahead of him at one point,"
said Smiley. "I just got stuck on a little
hill and stalled it, he got back by me."
Fifth went to The National Guard's William
Yokley, ahead of Alba/DC Cycles' Ryan Lane.
Bryan Baker was next on the factory Polaris,
ahead of Yamaha/Cernic's/GT Thunder's Johnny
Gallagher. Rockstar/Yoshimura Suzuki's Chris
Borich had another dissapointing run in the
mud for ninth.
Tenth overall went to GT Thunder/Yamaha's Don
Ockerman, who nailed down his fifth XC2 Pro
Am win of the season. He had quite a challenge
from The National Guard's Mark Notman and Baldwin
Motorsports' Brian Wolfe, who took second and
third. The $100 Rekluse Holeshot Award went
to David Crane.
In the morning ATV race, a last-lap bottleneck
opened up an opportunity for Montgomeryville
Cycle Center's Stefanie Verkade to take her
first-ever ATV morning overall win. Tom Clark
Motorsports' Angel Atwell and Yamaha's Traci
Cecco took second and third.
Verkade shed tears on the podium, completing
a life-long dream by getting the class and overall
win. "Today, I had luck on my side, for
once," said Verkade, who collected the
$100 ATVRiders.com Morning Race Overall Win
Award. "I've been racing my whole life,
and this is just a dream come true to get up
here."
The top Utility result came from Doug Henke
on a Kawasaki KFX700 in the U2 class. Bryan
Buckhannon (4x4 Open) and Cliffton Beasley (4x4
Lites) continued their perfect seasons, while
Michael Swift got his fifth win in six races
in the 4x4 Limited class.
The one-hour GNCC Youth race was postponed
from morning until afternoon to give the track
a chance to dry. An 11-year-old, Ryan Early,
made history by becoming the youngest-ever overall
race winner. Logan Fluharty and Jerry Welch
rounded out the podium.
The Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series
continues in two weeks with The Weekend Warrior
Spartan GNCC in Sparta, Kentucky.
About
GNCC Racing:
The
Can-Am Grand National Cross Country series is
America's premier off-road racing series. Founded
in 1973, the 13-round championship is produced
exclusively by Racer Productions. Cross country
racing is one of the most physically demanding
sports in the world. The grueling three-hour
GNCC races lead as many as 1,800 riders through
tracks ranging in length from eight to 12 miles,
competing for more than $3 million in prizes.
With varied terrain, including hills, woods,
mud, dirt, rocks and motocross sections, GNCC
events are tests of both survival and speed.
GNCC featured sponsors include: Can-Am, Parts
Unlimited, Moose, Maxxis, Pirelli, Wiseco, Acerbis,
Elka, GEICO, Klotz, FMF, ITP and Weekend Warrior.
Associate sponsors include Alpine-stars, BRP,
Cometic, HiPer Technology, Laegers, Moose Utility
Division, The National Guard, Ogio, Powersport
Grafx, Rekluse, REM, Scott, Thor, Twin Air,
and MotoTee's ATVRiders.com.
For more information log on to www.GNCCRacing.com.
www.gnccracing.com
122 Vista Del Rio Drive,
Morgantown, WV 26508
304-284-0084
