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GNCC
ATV Racing
Round 12 - "Ironman"
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Crawfordsville, IN (10/23/2011)
- The Ironman GNCC is historically known for it's
spectator-friendly obstacles and festive aura,
usually serving as the final round of racing;
but due to a previous rainout, the Ironman provided
a penultimate round of exciting racing action
in all classes, the finale taking place at Loretta
Lynn's Ranch November 4-6. Aside from racing action,
there were a variety of special events taking
place at the festive Ironman event and there's
no doubt the Crawfordsville locals witnessed a
day of ATV racing they will never forget.
Chris Borich wrapped up the 2011 Can-Am Grand
National Cross Series championship with one
round remaining on the schedule after taking
an exciting and hard-fought victory at the prestigious
Amsoil Ironman GNCC - marking his third consecutive
title.
As he has done several times before, the Rockstar
Makita Suzuki rider made it interesting by coming
from behind, this time passing Ballance Racing
Yamaha's Taylor Kiser and Foremost Insurance/Warnert
Racing Can-Am's Adam McGill on the final lap
to take the win. Although Borich knew that in
order to secure the title at Ironman, he only
needed to finish in front of McGill or one place
behind, the Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider wanted
to tack on another Ironman win to his resume.
This makes the fourth time Borich has won the
Ironman GNCC, and it's his third-straight XC1
title.
"It's been a pretty stressful year and
it feels good to finally wrap it up," said
Borich. "This is a big race and there are
a lot of people here and it feels good to get
the win at this race."
GT Thunder-backed Brian Wolf was a heavy contender
coming into today's Ironman with two wins under
his belt, but unfortunately Wolf was slightly
injured while helping a fellow racer in the
morning race. Wolf put his best efforts to compete
in the race but wasn't able to contend a podium
position this weekend.
Borich battled up front with Kiser, McGill,
Foremost Insurance/Warnert Racing Can-Am's Chris
Bithell, and Honda-mounted Jarrod McClure for
most of the two-hour race, and was running second
behind McGill at the halfway mark. However,
McGill got stuck on one of the nasty hills and
collected Borich with him, as both riders dropped
back to fourth and fifth. After inspecting possible
passing opportunities before and throughout
the race, Borich was saving an ace up his sleeve
and used it to his advantage on the final lap
to take the lead and eventually the win.
"I knew of a line at the four-mile mark
and on the last lap I was in third and I took
that line and ended up with the lead,"
said Borich. "After I got the lead I just
held on."
