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GNCC
ATV Racing
Round 1 - "River
Ranch" |
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River Ranch, FL - Tradition
is a key component in the Can-Am Grand National
Cross Country Series, America's premiere off-road
ATV and motorcycle racing series. This weekend's
ATV season opener, the Moose Racing Westgate
River Ranch GNCC in River Ranch, Fla., picked
up almost exactly where it left off in 2011,
as a handful of veterans diced away for the
podium position, but this year's season opener
added in a few new factors for 2012.
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| Defending
GNCC XC1 Pro Champion Chris Borich took
the first win of the 2012 GNCC ATV Racing
Season |
In true fashion, Maxxis/Yoshimura-backed Chris
Borich (SUZ) put a final-lap pass on the remaining
front-runners-Chris Bithell and Adam McGill-to
take home the first win of the season in the rough,
whooped-out Florida sand. Borich, three-time and
defending ATV champion, settled into the third
position immediately into the two-hour battle,
but after tagging a tree with his front bumper,
Borich was forced to pull into the pits for some
additional tweaking.
"I hit the berm a little bit wrong and
ended up tagging a tree," Borich said.
"I bent my front bumper and I had to stop
in to readjust the clutch perch, which cost
me about 40 seconds and I was a little worried
about losing the clutch before the race was
over. Luckily everything held together and I
was able to pull it off at the end there."
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National Guard / Yokley Racing's
Jarrod McClure grabbed the $250 Motosport.com
Pro Holeshot Award at the GNCC season
opener in Florida |
It was Bowers Motorcycle/Coastal/National
Guard/Yokley Racing's Jarrod McClure (HON) that
grabbed the $250 Motosport.com Holeshot Award,
and he led the beginning part of the race until
a mechanical failure kept the Ohio rider out
for the remainder of the day. McClure took the
GNCC Most Improved Rider honors in 2011 and
looks to be a part of this season's intense
XC1 podium-battles.
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| Precision
Racing's Adam McGill placed second on
his new Honda 450R ATV |
West Virginia's Adam McGill kicked this season
off in a different manner than the rest of his
competition, which all returned on familiar
machines for the first round of racing. Formerly
a part of the Factory Can-Am efforts, McGill
(HON) is now supported by the Precision/Moto
X Perts/ITP/Lonestar/RG Motorsports team and
much to the surprise of many, looked comfortable
and ready on his brand new Honda machine.
"I pretty much led all day but I lost
my brakes on the second to last lap and that
helped push me into second at that point,"
said McGill. "The new bike really impressed
me; I'm just looking forward to getting it out
to the Georgia clay and letting her eat!"
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Chris
Bithell took third place at River Ranch
on his Can-Am DS450 ATV |
Motoworks/Can-Am's Chris Bithell put in a solid
ride for the third place spot and even led Borich
and the pack on the fourth lap for some time.
Bithell wasn't able to put together a race-win
in 2011, so the Pennsylvania native is pulling
out all the stops to make something happen early
on this season.
And then there was the rookie. Defending XC2
Pro Am champion, Walker Fowler, came into the
opening round with a little weight on his shoulders
and the Ballance Racing Yamaha rider delivered
all he could, just missing the podium in his
pro class debut. Fowler ran into some steering
issues when he hit a tree and was forced to
pull into the pits to adjust the settings before
getting back into the mix but got back going
to finish a respectable fourth place in his
first-ever XC1 GNCC effort.
