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GNCC
ATV Racing
Round 7 - "Mountain
Ridge" |
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#1
Chris Borich claims his 5th win of the
season at a wet & muddy Mountain Ridge
GNCC |
Somerset, PA - As many as five
different riders held the lead during a wet and
wild Moose Mountain Ridge GNCC. However, after
two hours of bar to bar racing, Yoshimura Suzuki's
Chris Borich emerged with his fifth win of the
season, adding to his already impressive points
lead in the Can-Am Grand National Cross Country
Series.
A steady and sometimes driving rain moved in
over Somerset, Pennsylvania, just as the flag
dropped to start the afternoon race. And exiting
the first turn with the lead was Yamaha rider
Jeffrey Pickens, who claimed the $250 Motorcycle-USA.com
Holeshot Award by doing so. Following Pickens
was a tightly spaced group consisting of Borich,
Ballance Racing/Yamaha's Taylor Kiser, FRE KTM's
Bryan Cook, and Warnert Racing Can-Am teammates
Adam McGill and Chris Bithell.
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| GBC's
#15 Jeff Pickens grabbed the Pro XC1 ATV
Holeshot followed by #2 Taylor Kiser &
#1 Chris Borich |
During the first half of the race, Pickens,
Borich, Kiser, McGill and Bithell, all held
the lead at one point or another, although Bithell
held the lead for the longest stint. However,
after pulling his goggles off when they got
covered with mud, Bithell caught a stick in
the eye and pulled off the track to recover,
leaving Kiser, Borich and McGill to battle for
the win.
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After
a hard fault battle for the win, #1
Chris Borich celebrated at the finish
line with a 360 donut for the cheering
crowd
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Heading into the final lap, Kiser held the
lead, followed closely by McGill and Borich.
But, as he has done several times already this
year, Borich picked off his rivals one by one
to take a hard-earned win – passing McGill
on an uphill climb and Kiser in a slippery corner.
"This was a tough one. In these conditions
you could go from first to fifth and back to
first in a heartbeat," said Borich. "I
was behind McGill and Kiser on the last lap,
and I got a good line on McGill and passed him.
Then I sat Kiser up and just held on for the
win. This [win] is awesome. That last race [in
North Carolina] – it just wasn't my day,
but today was my day so I'm happy."
Kiser got off to one of the better starts of
the year, but encountered problems on the opening
lap and dropped to mid-pack, forcing him to
work even harder to get back in touch with the
leaders. After getting passed on the final lap
by Borich, Kiser held on to take the runner-up
position, his fifth such finish of the year.
"I was running second after the start,
and then I got hung up in a mud hole and dropped
back a ways. After that I just told myself to
relax," said Kiser. "Once I relaxed,
I was able to work my way back up to the front."
"All in all it, it was a good day,"
added Kiser. "Not quite the result I was
looking for, but we'll get there."
