| GNCC
ATV Racing
Round 11 - "Yadkinville" |
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Chris Bithell earns his 1st Career
Win by edging out Bill Ballance by just
2 seconds |
Yadkinville, NC - Luck turned
in the Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series,
as sophomore pro Chris Bithell of Irwin, Pennsylvania
snagged his first career win by topping Bill
Ballance of Smith Grove, Kentucky and Brent
Sturdivant of Montrose, West Virginia at the
Elka Yadkin Valley Stomp GNCC in North Carolina.
Series points leader Chris Borich struggled
to 17th on his East Coast ATV Honda after blowing
a rear shock. Now Yamaha’s Ballance, who
is looking for a record-breaking eighth-straight
GNCC title, holds a 13-point lead in the series
with two races to go in the series
In front of that, Bithell rode his heart out
for his first win. “I knew I really wanted
this win,” said Bithell. “I didn’t
get a great holeshot at all. I was probably
sitting tenth into the woods. I started putting
my head down and knew I could slowly make passes—that’s
the only thing I could do.”
Bithell eventually made his way all the way
to the front of the pack, as Borich, the early
leader and winner of the ITP Holeshot Award,
started struggling when his shock gave out.
Then Ballance made a mistake and Bithell ended
up with the lead on the last lap. Ballance dug
deep to try to get him back.
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Chris Borich & Brent Sturdivant swapped
the lead back and forth in the first 2
laps of the race |
Borich
charge came to an end when he experienced
rear shock issues, which sent him back
to a 17th Overall Finish |
“Honestly, I really thought I had this
thing in the bag,” said Ballance. “About
the nine mile marker, I had a line picked out
and charged into it and just hit the line three
inches too quick, and got wrapped up in a grapevine
and had to break it get on through the line.
But we come out of here in second and made up
some valuable points today. Chris Bithell was
riding awesome out there today, got to take
my hat off to him. It’s good to be up
here and have the point’s lead with two
races to go.”
. “I’d like to thank everybody in
the family,” said Bithell. “Everybody
that gets me here, the pit crew, everybody does
their job so I can be here.”
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Jarrod McClure charged his way from 13th
to a career best 7th Overall finish as
has improved his finish with each race
since Round 5 at Loretta Lynn's |
Andy
Lagzdins raced the KTM 525XC for the first
time in the Pro Class with just a few
mods: Elka Suspension, Bumper, Skid plates,
Flexx Bars, Tires & Wheels |
Sturdivant took his first-ever GNCC podium
ahead of a big battle throughout the top ten,
holding off Matt Smiley and Adam McGill for
the spot.
“I gave Borich a run for the holeshot
award there; I thought I almost had him,”
said Sturdivant, a college student from West
Virginia. “I was just following him for
the first couple of laps. Then his bike started
beating him up, and he let me go and I pulled
away. I kept pulling away and got down in a
big muddy section, and I overshot the turn,
ended up in the mud and everybody went by me.
I had to dig my quad out, but man, this is a
dream come true. Not too long ago, I was standing
out there in the crowd watching everybody get
up here and this is a dream come true for me.”
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Pro
ATV Podium (left to right)
Bill Ballance, Chris Bithell, Brent Sturdivant |
Sixth overall went to GT Thunder Yamaha’s
Brandon Sommers, who also won the XC2 Pro Am
Class and clinched the class championship for
the season. Don Ockerman and Jeff Maloney rounded
out the top three in that class.
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Brandon Sommers won his 10th ProAm Race
of the season and wrapped-up the ProAm
Championship |
Donald
Ockerman pulled yet another Holeshot and
held onto a season best 2nd Place finish
and 13th Overall |
