2005 GNCC Round #2 "Orange Crush"

[Admin]

GNCC racers from around the country head to Florida along with thousands of motorcycle enthusiast for the start of Bike Week in Daytona, FL. The 2nd round of the Series is held this year just 20 miles west of Daytona in De Leon Springs.

Joe Borich and Bill Neidlinger brought along their bikes to ride in Florida as Chris Borich, Sean Neidlinger, Traci Cecco, Rick Cecco, Tyler Lenig, and I all piled into a warm car to held out to eat Friday night.

[Admin]

After eating we headed to downtown Daytona to check out some of the bikes.

[Admin]

The Las Vegas Extremes bus reminded me of the CV Boys as we headed back to get some sleep before heading to the track Saturday Morning.

[Admin]

Saturday Morning, I drove just a few miles north of De Leon Springs, FL to the new track location for this years event.

[Admin]

Once I arrived at the track Saturday morning, I pleasantly surprised that the parking area was completely dry even after the area received over an inch of rain on Thursday.

The gates opened up on Friday at noon, and many people arrived early to find the best parking spots along the track, but plenty of parking remained available.

[Admin]

After racing in a swamp the last two years, I was really curious to see what the track conditions would be like at the new location.

It became obvious right away that Racer Production didn't want a repeat of Palatka, FL, and the track conditions were completely dry and actually a little too dry even after the rain on Thursday.

[Admin]

The track twist and turns it way through several virgin woods sections of track and the only natural signs of water is the ponds that track runs along side of in a few locations.

[Admin]

For a crowd pleaser, Racer Production created some obsticles for the Afternoon race. The riders could rider over these sand covered logs or take an alternative path through a water pit.

[Admin]

The Water Pit

[Admin]

The Finish line.

[Admin]

The vendors began opening up for business early and Maxxis brought along a plenty of tires to replace those destroyed at the rocky Lonestar round and for those riders starting out their season in Florida.

[Admin]

Super Senior Champion, Johnny Gallagher Sr, grabbed himself some brand new ITP Holeshots to mount for this weekend’s race.

Johnny has been riding hard preparing for the Florida sand and is looking for a repeat championship and hopefully another podium finish.

[Admin]

The Klotz crew was open and ready for business.

[Admin]

John Ayers and Carrie Jo discuss their plans to film another exciting round for their DVD and Television program.

[Admin]

For the 1st time, an ATV Factory Rig arrived at a GNCC race, but unfortunately this Suzuki Rig wasn't William Yokley's new rig. Instead, it is Doug Gust and Jerermiah Jones Rig that arrived in town a week early for the GNC just up the road.

William arrived later in the day and will be setup with the Suzuki rig atleast for one weekend, and Doug Gust and Cindi Hart will be arriving tomorrow to watch the GNCC Race.

[Admin]

Many of the Pro Riders gathered around and chatted with each other.

#18 Santo Derisi, #14 Andy Lagzdins, #11 Michael Houston

[Admin]

#6 Bryan Cook makes some final adjustment on his YFZ before signing up for Practice.

[Admin]

#5 Chad Duvall was out an about and has decided that he will return to racing this weekend after taking off for the opening round to all his body a chance to adjust to his new medication he is taking to control his white blood cell count after being diagnosed with CML (Chronic myeloid leukemia).

Chad was kept busy through out the day giving concerned riders an update on his condition and also explaining the new Track system Elka shocks installed on the YFZ which were debuted at the Indy Show and are still in testing, but should be available this summer.

[Admin]

The Alba Action team (Chris Borich & Traci Cecco) were sporting their new backdrops to their Professional Pits.

[Admin]

Traci Cecco sweeping out the trailer.

[Admin]

#4 Matt Smiley and his pitcrew were busy dialing in the Polaris Predator, but after Matt's incredible come back at the last round, I think they are on the right track.

[Admin]

#1 Bill Ballance was busy modifying his grips with an exacto knife after returning from a walk of the track.

[Admin]

Rookie Pro Rider, Rhett Butler, in only his 2nd Season of ATV racing was making some serious modication to his 450R by adding a ArsFX rear end to it to test out.

[Admin]

Registration lines remained busy throughout the morning because many riders still aren't taking advantage of the Pre Registration (http://www.gnccracing.com/preentry/index.htm) at the GNCC Website.

[Admin]

Super Senior Rider, Jim Clester, was interviewed while waiting in line.

[Admin]

Michael Sroka heads in from riding the track on his Mountain bike which is one of the fastest ways to check out the track.

[Admin]

Darrell Bozarth put in an impressive ride with a third place finish in the Open B class at Texas, and he was busy trying to get his new Retro looking YFZ ready for the Florida round, but he thinks he may need to still race his last years YFZ race quad before making the switch.

[Admin]

Practice began at 2PM and many riders started headed over to see if their suspension was dialed in for the Florida sand.

[Admin]

The Four Stroke Tech Benson Brothers didn't make the trip to Texas, so they were quick to get out and dial in their new machines.

[Admin]

The three mile practice loop became packed at times with many riders forming a train.

[Admin]

#212 Michael Shelley makes the switch from the Utility Unlimited class on the Vforce to the 450R to compete in the Stock Class.

[Admin]

#13 Todd Knippenberg

[Admin]

#14 Andy Lagzdins

[Admin]

#4 Matt Smiley

[Admin]

#5 Chad Duvall

[Admin]

#6 Bryan Cook

[Admin]

#18 Santo Derisi

[Admin]

#7 Chris Jenks

[Admin]

#68 Derek Litterini

[Admin]

#319 Wyatt Westmoreland

[Admin]

#598 Ryon Hicks

[Admin]

Before the practice was through the smooth sand was full of natural sand whoops which began putting its toll on the riders, which will be a preview of the how rough the track tomorrow will get after several hundred riders put in lap after lap on the loose sand.

[Admin]

With practice over, Matt Smiley changed out of his riding gear and spent some time with his son Benjamin

[Admin]

Many riders headed over to the Moose poker tournament for an evening of fun and a chance to win some cool prizes from Moose.

[Admin]

Even though is was dark outside, many players wore their shades just like the pros in Vegas.

[Admin]

Others were kept busy making some last minute repairs.

[Admin]

Some just hung out by a camp fire to keep warm and socialize with friends before heading to bed.

[Admin]

I hope everyone enjoyed the live race coverage from the race, and I am currently working on the Complete race report.

[Admin]

Sunday Morning, I arrived back at Camp Winona and the weather was picture perfect. The temps were in the low 60's with sunny skies and highs were expected in the mid 70's by afternoon, which were pleny warm enough for the rough track condition that riders would experience in the afternoon.

[Admin]

#2 William Yokley, Team Suzuki Rider, showed up late Saturday Evening after practicing most of the day at another location.

William returned to the track bright and early Sunday morning to prepare for the race.

[Admin]

With the GNC National next weekend at Gatorback just about an hour north of the GNCC track, Doug Gust and Cindi Hart were in the area practicing, so they took some time out to check out some GNCC Racing.

[Admin]

The Moose Racing Poker Champion was still sporting his shades and poker look the day after some exciting poker playing action at the Moose Racing Trailer Saturday evening.

[Admin]

Some riders were continued to work on their machines in preparation for the race.

[Admin]

With the Afternoon Race about to begin, Mickey Dunlap headed to starting line with his team of 6 afternoon racers (#6 Bryan Cook, #7 Chris Jenks, #11 Michael Houston, #55 Micheal Benson, #83 Shane Benson, and #91 Jeremy Benson)

[Admin]

#24 Rhett Butler, made his 2nd appearance in the Pro Class and is looking to improve upon his disappointing finish at Texas.

[Admin]

#10 Greg Trew also would much rather forget Texas after his spindle snapped in Texas before he could complete one lap.

[Admin]

Joe Borich makes some final adjustments on #3 Chris Borich's Alba Action Honda before the start of the race.

[Admin]

#3 Chris Borich finished out last season with some impressive wins after switching to the Honda. Over the winner, his team(Chris Borich, Matt Smiley, and John Natalie Jr) won the 12 Hours of America and Chris headed to Florida at the end of the December to win the ATV Olympics XC Overall.

The racing action between Chris Borich and Bill Ballance was intense in Texas with Chris squeezing out the win, so the biggest question was he going to be able to start of the season with two back to back wins?

The look of determination in his eyes told me that he was going to give it his all because he is hungrier than ever for the Championship this season.

[Admin]

#4 Matt Smiley showed that the Polaris Predator could be competetive in the GNCC series after he made an impressive charge from last place start after his key turned off from a rock.

Matt worked his way up to 11th by the end of the 1st lap and finished out the race with a 5th overall finish, so if he gets a descent start today, the podium could easily be within reach.

[Admin]

With all the riders lined up and waiting, the National Anthem played as a huge crowd gathered around the perimeter of the track to catch a glimpse of the riders as they headed into the 1st turn.

[Admin]

#23 Bryan Baker finished 12th Overall in Texas this year on his Honda which was one higher than his 13th Overall last season on the Vforce.

[Admin]

#5 Chad Duvall stood on his Yamaha watching the flag dance in the wind as he waited for the start of his season to begin. Chad is a fighter and it was great to see him back at the track doing what he loves to do, RACE!!!!

[Admin]

With Doug Gust yelling "10 Seconds", the riders focused on Green Flag waiting for Rick Towery to wave it in the air.

In a flash, the Afternoon race was underway, with #1 Bill Ballance putting his Yamaha out front early once again with Trew, Duvall, Borich, Br. Ballance all in chase along with the remaining Pro Riders.

[Admin]

Bill locked up his front brakes as he headed hard into the 2nd turn with Chris Borich and Brandon Ballance right behind him.

[Admin]

By the end of the 1st lap, Bill Ballance remained out front with Chris Borich and Brandon Ballance close behind.

[Admin]

Only a few seconds back in 4th place was Matt Smiley aboard his Polaris Predator.

[Admin]

#7 Chris Jenks was the next Pro rider to emerge from the dust in 5th place with #2 William Yokley and #11 Michael Houston all within a few seconds of each other.

The track conditions were becoming worse with each passing rider as the loose sand formed deep ruts and whoops throughout the 11 mile track.

[Admin]

#30 Rob Zimmerman looked impressive on his 1st lap and was running in 8th place.

[Admin]

#69 Thomas Barrett was running in 9th place and was looking to improve upon his 14th place finish at Texas.

[Admin]

#16 Santo Derisi and #6 Bryan Cook was hot of the heals of #69 Thomas Barrett and were looking to move up as they worked their way through the sand screen and whoops.

[Admin]

#24 Rhett Butler remained in the mix in 12th place just over a minute behind Bill Ballance with #14 Andy Lagzdins and #13 Todd Knippenberg only a few seconds behind him as tried to maintain his position.

Unfortunately, #20 Kim Kuhnle was the last Pro Rider to come through after the 1st lap in 15th place, which meant 4 Pro riders never finished the 1st lap.

#10 Greg Trew became extremely ill during the race and forced to pull himself out of the race with either heat exhaustion or a stomach virus, which horrible news to Greg after such a tough luck start of the season at Texas.

#5 Chad Duvall also called it a day after he clipped a tree and hyper extended his thumb which made it almost impossible from him to push the throttle, so pulled into the pits and decided to prevent anymore damage, so he can heal back up for Georgia this weekend.

#18 Johnny Gallagher and #23 Bryan Baker were also out of the race.

[Admin]

By the end of the 2nd lap, Chris Borich had passed Bill Ballance and took over the lead.

[Admin]

Bill Ballance came through the scoring tent 20 seconds behind Borich with Brandon Ballance right behind him as the Ballance brothers try to reel back in Borich.

[Admin]

Shortly after the Ballance brother came through the scoring tent, Open B rider, Dean Allen, found himself stuck in one of the many
ruts that were becoming so deep that some quads were getting buried almost up to their fenders.

Dean's Suzuki would quickly become an obsticle for Matt Smiley in 4th Place, but he worked himself out of the rut and went around followed by teamates #7 Chris Jenks and #11 Michael Houston coming through a minute apart.

William Yokley was back to 7th Place after having to pit having trouble holding on in the 1st lap because his right handed glove was too small which made it difficult for him to stay on the gas, so he pulled into the pits at the beginning of the 2nd lap and swapped out to a larger glove.

[Admin]

#6 Bryan Cook moved up to 9th place after Zimmerman and Barrett became fatigued slowed down enough for Cook to easily pass them and moved to within 3 seconds of #16 Santo Derisi in 8th Place.

[Admin]

#13 Todd Knippenberg moved up to 11th behind #14 Andy Lagzdins as they both picked up 3 positoin after also passing Barrett, Zimmerman, and Rhett Butler.

[Admin]

By the end of the third lap, to the surprise of everyone, #9 Brandon Ballance had passed both Bill and Chris and took over the lead and was once again looking for his 2nd Overall finish in Florida after winning the Overall two years earlier at Palatka.

[Admin]

Chris Borich was about to give Brandon Ballance any breathing room and was also looking to earn his 2nd win in a row for the season, so the stage was set for some intense riding with these two riders both looking for that overall win with two laps to go, so anything could happen.

[Admin]

Bill Ballance dropped back behind the battling duo by less than 15 seconds and was still in the hunt.

[Admin]

#4 Matt Smiley remained in 4th place, but had dropped back over 30 seconds behind the top three.

[Admin]

#7 Chris Jenks remained in 5th Place, but the brutal track conditions were starting to take its toll on him as he dropped another minute behind Matt Smiley and now was over 2 minutes out of 4th place, but he wasn't giving up as you can see in this photo of him roosting out of the turn.

[Admin]

#11 Michael Houston dropped back to 7th Place after #2 William Yokley passed him and regain his 6th place position before pitting for gloves.

[Admin]

#16 Santo Derisi remained in 8th Place and was looking for another top 10 finish as #14 Andy Lagzdins and #13 Todd Knippenberg both moved up into the top 10 after passing #6 Bryan Cook.

[Admin]

#20 Kim Kuhnle on his Polaris Predator worked his way up to 13th behind Rhett Butler

[Admin]

By the end of the 4th lap, Chris Borich made his move on Brandon Ballance and put his head down and started charging ahead, and built almost a 1.5 minute lead over Brandon by the end of the 4th lap:macho

[Admin]

Brandon Ballance remained in 2nd Place, and was trying to conserve energy for a last lap charge and catch back up to Chris Borich, but did he give up too much time in the 4th lap?

[Admin]

The big question on many peoples minds was "Where is Bill Ballance?" Bill Ballance had dropped over two minutes behind Borich and almost one minute behind Brandon:confused:

As he approached me from a distance, I could tell Bill wasn't in his normal charging postion, so the question was if he was tired or was something wrong with his machine as he came through in 3rd place.

[Admin]

Upon closer inspection of Bill's machine, it became easily apparent to what was slowing him down. A huge limb had lodged itself into his A-arm which was prevent the suspension from working properly and making it difficult to turn the wheel.

Bill tried to pull the limb free, but he couldn't get it to come loose, so he was forced to leave it in place and avoid wasting anymore time because #4 Matt Smiley was quickly closing in with less than 15 seconds seperating the two riders by the end of the lap.

[Admin]

Meanwhile, #2 William Yokley continued his charge to the front as he put in the 2nd fastest 4th lap and picked up anothe position when he passed #7 Chris Jenks and took over 5th Place, but was over 1.5 minutes behind Matt Smiley in 4th place.

[Admin]

#11 Michael Houston regained his 6th place postion after passing his teammate #7 Chris Jenks half way through the 4th lap.

[Admin]

#14 Andy Lagzdins remained in 9th place behind #16 Santo Derisi, but Andy gained 30 seconds on Santo in the 4th lap and could possibly catch Santo by the end of the 5th lap.

Todd Knippenberg remained in 10th, but began to fade and was losing time on Andy as the gap expanded to almost three minutes between the two riders.

Also, #6 Bryan Cook was knocked out of the race when his steering twisted on the splines during the 4th lap.

[Admin]

On the final lap at the three mile marker, #3 Chris Borich came through in the lead and remained hard on the gas.

[Admin]

by the 5 mile marker, Chris Borich came through in the lead, but within a few miles of the finish, Chris Borich stalled his Honda, and it wouldn't restart even after he kicked it several times.

Brandon Ballance was hard on the gas in 2nd place as he had planned for the final lap, so if Chris wasn't able to get started in time, Brandon could still take the win.

[Admin]

#4 Matt Smiley made the pass on Bill Ballance and took over the final podium spot as he came by over three minutes behind Brandon.

Matt was losing time on the leaders, so he needed to focus on not making any mistakes and seperate himself fom Bill Ballance to put the Polaris Predator on the Podium in Afternoon GNCC race for the 1st time in history.

[Admin]

Bill Ballance came through just under a minute later with the limb sticking out behind his wheel, and it was amazing at how well he continued to ride even though his suspension and steering was hindered, but he now was receiving pressure from William Yokley charging up to within10 seconds of Bill by the 5 mile marker.

[Admin]

William Yokley remained focused and hard on the gas as he closed the gap on Bill Ballance

[Admin]

While the top riders were battling for position many of the riders were really starting to become fatigued from the heat and rough track conditions so early in the season after not riding most of the winter.

Also, many ATVs were also suffering the effects of the heat as they began to overheat along with the riders and coming to a stop.

[Admin]

I rushed to the finish line, to see if Chris Borich would be able get his Honda started before Brandon Ballance was able to make the pass.

Luckily, Chris Borich let the 450R cool down for about 30 seconds and it fired up before Brandon was able to get within a minute of catching him.

#3 Chris Borich took his 2nd Win of the Year as he wheelied to the finish line!!!:macho

[Admin]

The Alba Action crew rushed over the congradulate Chris on another oustanding performance and Jason Weigandt was right their with the camera crew to capture the moment.

[Admin]

#9 Brandon Ballance put in an impressive race with a 2nd Overall finish on a highly demanding track on the body and machine.

Two years ago when he won the Overall in Florida, many of the top riders found themselves stuck and he was able to pick the better lines to get the win, but this wasn't the case this year, so everybody might want to start playing closer attention to Bill's younger brother because this probably won't be the last time this season we see Brandon in contingency for a podium finish.

Congratulations Brandon Ballance

[Admin]

Several minutes later, #4 Matt Smiley came through the finish line with a third overall and a Podium finish, which was an awesome accomplishment considering that Matt has only raced the Predator two times in the GNCC Series with two top 5 Overall finishes.

[Admin]

The next rider to emerge was William Yokley after he was easily able to pass Bill Ballance and take over 4th place and salvage a race that he initially considered was going to end up as a throw away.

[Admin]

Bill Ballance came through the finish line in 5th place and over a minute behind Yokley, which was definitly a disappointed to Bill after leading earlier in the race.

Bill wasn't dealt the best hand this race, and Chris Borich was able to take another win, but Bill proved why he has won so many championship in the past because he never gave up and he made the right decision to finish the race with the limb lodged into the A-arm and not stopping until he got it out.

Once the race was over, the Ballance crew took well over five minutes trying to break the limb free, which would have possibly costed him even more positions if he did it during the race.

This weekend's race at Georgia should be extremely interesting, and I can't wait because things are really starting to get exciting.

[Admin]

#11 Michael Houston held on for a 6th Place finish.

[Admin]

An exhausted #7 Chris Jenks, held on to finish in 7th Place

[Admin]

#16 Santo Derisi finished in 8th place and also wasn't immune to the rough conditions as he slowed down in the last lap, and was barely able to hold off the hard charging #14 Andy Lagzdins that finished only 4 seconds behind him.

[Admin]

#14 Andy Lagzdins has been training hard over the winter and it has shown at the track this season with two back to back top 10 Overall finishes.

Last Season, Andy never crested the top 10 once, but managed to finish 11th overall five times, so keep up the great racing Andy
:devil:

[Admin]

#24 Rhett Butler held on to finish 12th and 21st overall behind Todd Knippenberg and Kim Kuhnle.

[Admin]

long time friends, Smiley and Borich, compared blisters on the podium

[Admin]

The top three finishers proudly held their trophies high in the air after an incredible race

[Admin]

Once it was time for the Champagne celebration, the podium veteran, Matt Smiley, was having a hard time opening his bottle as the young guns patiently watched Matt in anticipation.

[Admin]

Matt quickly showed them that he knew how to spray champagne after many years of experience.

Congratulations to everyone that completed FIVE laps this weekend:macho

[Admin]

Due to the Georgia being this weekend, I uploaded the Afternoon Photo Gallery (http://www.atvriders.com/gallery/2005_GNCC_02_Afternoon/index.html) for the rest of the classes, and I plan to have the AM Coverage up before the Weekend.

[Meek]

Great race report.:D

[cliq20]

Originally posted by Meek
Great race report.:D


i agree, great job harlen. as usual. felt like i was there.

[p@iNn3ck]

Originally posted by Admin
Upon closer inspection of Bill's machine, it became easily apparent to what was slowing him down.

Awesome picture! Gotta love that camera!

Great coverage, some of those pics were just amazing!

[grizzlykev]

great cov guys keep up the good work

[blastinroost]

great coverage it's nice to have someone do this for us
thanks

[gaatvr]

So you will be adding the morning class coverage before this weekend?

[Admin]

Afternoon Photo Gallery (http://www.atvriders.com/gallery/2005_GNCC_02_Afternoon/index.html) Ready for Viewing.

[Johnny & Monica]

Awesome report an Race Harlen!!!!We missed a awesome one :(
We loved the lap updates an pictures keep up the great coverage we`ll miss the live report this sat at Ga. because of Mo. race at sedalia But we`ll be making calls down there for race reports from freinds. An race home to check our home news station atvriders.com Good luck in ga. Johnny an Monica

[black450r]

hey nice pics. have any of that mud hole jump thing?

[black450r]

hey nice pics. have any of that mud hole jump thing?

[burrows]

Great coverage. Don't know what we would do with out you great picture taking Looking forward to seeing what you come up with Georgia. momma b

[markk]

Great coverage harlen!! I saw u out there in the middle of no where! Hard work to race all morning then go running around taking pics.


see ya all at Ga.

[SwainRacing]

Great Pictures and Race reports! This was the first GNCC Race I did this year and I had a Blast! Could not of asked for a better day!. I will try to post some pic and video later in the week.

[Ryan]

Good race report!

[SwainRacing]

Video of the race is up under the RACE Section.

[gaatvr]

Wheres the morning coverage from FLA. Harlen :(

[Admin]

Originally posted by gaatvr
Wheres the morning coverage from FLA. Harlen :(

I am doing the best that I can do.

[m250r]

Originally posted by gaatvr
Wheres the morning coverage from FLA. Harlen :(


dude you have no idea how much work this guy does just for this site! you think that he jsut sits in front of the computer all day and has nothing better to do? he had to cover the FL GNCC and the GA GNCC in back to back weeks which is hard enough.

[speedygonz]

Harlen.
Dont know how you do it. When we get off the quads, I crash out in the shade sick for about the next 2 hrs. I have a hard time just walking to the truck, Great job !
Marcus.

[gnarlyknobbies]

Yeah, Harlen is SUPERMAN to do what he does. Great Job Harlen.

And Sup Speedy! This is Thad!

[Admin]

Originally posted by gnarlyknobbies
Yeah, Harlen is SUPERMAN to do what he does. Great Job Harlen.

And Sup Speedy! This is Thad!

Thanks Everyone, but I couldn't do it without the help of others. Today was a horrible day at my day job with the main server crashing along with two workstations including my own :(. I replaced powersupplies, Hard Drives, and regenerated RAID-5 Clusters. I don't think I have ever been so stressed out in five years especially after a horrible race weekend for me.

After being sick with the stomach flu last week by body is finally saying give me a break and I am totally exhausted

[Meek]

Originally posted by Admin
I am doing the best that I can do.

Come on slacker.:D j/p

[gaatvr]

no need to get hostile..Just curious....:confused:

[speedygonz]

Thad.
Are you going to the mid-east race this sunday? I may go down and try it, but i still feal beat from the last 2 weeks.
Marcus

[gnarlyknobbies]

Speedy,

Im gonna race the 6 hour race in GA this weekend. Should'nt you be here doing that? SeeYa

[Wizard Racing]

I'm sorry, but I have to ask again. Is there going to be a Fla. am report ?

Before you all get on your high horses, I know Harlin and several others work hard to bring us the race coverages, but I'm sure I'm not the only person that would like to know. If it is not going to be done for whatever reason, thats cool too.

Thanks

[Admin]

Originally posted by Wizard Racing
I'm sorry, but I have to ask again. Is there going to be a Fla. am report ?

Before you all get on your high horses, I know Harlin and several others work hard to bring us the race coverages, but I'm sure I'm not the only person that would like to know. If it is not going to be done for whatever reason, thats cool too.

Thanks

I need to get the Afternoon finished from Georgia then I will try to get the AM coverage up from Florida or I will do a short and sweet coverage with a Photo Gallery

[Wizard Racing]

Thanks