propartsracing
04-08-2003, 03:58 PM
Hey,
Here's something I whipped up for Dirtwheels. Hopefully, you'll like it & see it in a couple months in DW.
Trish
STEELE CREEK
Morganton, NC
GNCC Round 3
Round 3 of the GNCC Series landed upon the scenic Steele Creek campground facility in Morganton, NC. Racer Productions, the promotors, put together an extremely rough 10-mile track. One of the highlights for the fans, was the bridge that the racers navigated their way under in the stream & mud bogs. Fans were crowded on top of that bridge as the racers went under them. Some of those mud-bogs along the track got so bad that many racers, even Bill Ballance & William Yokely had to be pulled out with a tow rope by the spectators! Ballance & Yokely were grateful for the spectators help, without them, they probably wouldn’t have won their respective classes.
As the Pro & Pro Production top 20 overall in points standings started on the front row in the grassy field, it was Klotz/LRD backed Bill Ballance who grabbed the much sought after holeshot. He was followed closely by Team Safari/LRD/Pro Parts Racing’s Matt Smiley. The remainder of the Pro & Pro Production classes took off 1 minute later. This gives the top guns in each class an equal chance of capturing the overall win. The Pro Production class has really stepped up this year as many more Pro racers jumped ship to join the Pro Production class. Racers such as Yokely (#3), Brad Page (#5), & Johnny Gallagher (#14) are now mounted on Suzuki LTZ400’s with stock frames as opposed to the after-market framed 2-strokes.
The Pro Production class is in it’s sophmore year of the GNCC Series. The ATV manufacturers are really relishing this new class. In the past years, the Pro, among other, classes have turned into to an almost totally after-market ATV class which you can not buy in your local dealer showroom. For the Pro Production class, there are rules that each racer has to follow. Among them, they have to run 4-stroke ATV being made today and run the stock chassis & motor mounts, but they are allowed to modify other area’s of the ATV. The promoters & racers feel this class will help put the spotlight back on the ATV’s currently being produced on the market today. With this new class, the manufacturers are really starting to step up their racing support by offering contingencies & helping dealerships supply top racer’s with new ATV’s to race. Let’s give a BIG welcome back to the manufactures & Racer Productions for starting this class!
As the racers battled for the lead, Ballance was soon being challenged by 20-year old, East Coast/LRD backed Chris Borich (#4). Smiley soon dropped out of the race with a mechanical failure. This particularly hurts Smiley since this is his 3rd DNF this season. Last season, Smiley was nick-named Mr. Consistency for his ability to finish on the podium at almost all the GNCC races, this season he sure needs some of that consistency back! Borich, however, proved to be a force to be reckoned with on this sunny day. Ballance & Borich quickly pulled their lead away from 3rd, 4th & 5th overall, K&K’s Greg Trew, Four-Stroke Tech’s Chad Duvall & Yoshimura/IMS/ITP/Nac’s/Roll backed William Yokely who compete in the Pro Production class by mid-race.
Borich gained the lead as he passed Ballance who was stuck in a mud-hole. It took 5-6 spectators with a tow strap to pull him out! Ballance made a hard charge to catch Borich. Borich was leading the last lap until he crashed pretty hard. “I caught a kicker and it threw me over the bars. The hardest part today was picking the right lines.” Said Borich. At this point, Yokely was now leading the Production class in a raging battle with Duvall. Yokely had charged so hard, he was within sight of Ballance & Borich. Once he saw him, he decided to plow hard through the middle of a deep mud hole & got stuck. The spectators, again, saved the day & pulled him out.
At the checkers, it was Bill Ballance with the overall win, with Borich finishing 2nd 30 seconds back. “Chris ran a real good pace today” said Ballance. Yokely & Duvall charged hard to finish in 3rd & 4th overall while placing 1st & 2nd in their Pro Production class. Yokely commented after the race “my bike was working awesome, but I was getting some arm pump out there”. Others racers agreed & many had lots of blisters on their hands to prove what a rough track it was.
Here’s someone to keep an eye on… Four-Stroke A’s Bryan Cook seems to be making quite a name for himself. After finishing 1st in the GA GNCC & an impressive 4th Overall, he continued his winning streak. He won the Four Stroke A class again in Steele Creek and, again, placed in the top 10 overall finishing 9th!
In the morning race, there was a continuous battle for the overall lead between top women’s contender, Traci Cecco & 4-stroke stock racer, Adam Howell. Cecco, now mounted on a Team Alba backed Suzuki Z400 crashed hard in the first turn leaving her main rival Stephanie Parton to grab the holeshot. Cecco charged hard catch up to Parton & Angel Atwell who was now leading. Cecco passed both Parton & Atwell and held her lead for the last 3 laps. Meanwhile, Adam Howell who is now competing on a Kawasaki V-Force 700 was on auto-pilot most of the race as 2nd place was more than 2 minutes behind him throughout the race. He was set on gaining time to secure his overall win against Cecco who started on the first row. Even though Traci crossed the finish line first (right in front of him), Howell gained the overall win with the extra minute deducted from his time.
Other finishes:
Pro: 1. Bill Ballance 2. Chris Borich 3. Santo Dirisi
Pro Production: 1. William Yokely 2. Chad Duvall 3. Brad Page
250A: 1. Ray Lippencott 2. James Wahl 3. Dirk Decesare
4-stroke A: 1. Bryan Cook 2. Duane Johnson 3. Jeff Stoess
Open A: Dave Hogg 2. Brian Schmid 3. Michael Lucas
Top 10 Overall Points going into Round 4:
1. Bill Ballance – 81
2. Chris Borich – 54
3. William Yokely – 46
4. Brad Page – 44
5. Chad Duvall – 43
6. Johnny Gallagher – 36
7. Brandon Ballance – 35
8. Greg Trew – 30
9. Bryan Cook – 30
10. Chris Jenks – 25
Next Race is Big Buck GNCC in Union, SC on April 12th. Come & see if Ballance will pull off another win or if Smiley will make a big return!
Here's something I whipped up for Dirtwheels. Hopefully, you'll like it & see it in a couple months in DW.
Trish
STEELE CREEK
Morganton, NC
GNCC Round 3
Round 3 of the GNCC Series landed upon the scenic Steele Creek campground facility in Morganton, NC. Racer Productions, the promotors, put together an extremely rough 10-mile track. One of the highlights for the fans, was the bridge that the racers navigated their way under in the stream & mud bogs. Fans were crowded on top of that bridge as the racers went under them. Some of those mud-bogs along the track got so bad that many racers, even Bill Ballance & William Yokely had to be pulled out with a tow rope by the spectators! Ballance & Yokely were grateful for the spectators help, without them, they probably wouldn’t have won their respective classes.
As the Pro & Pro Production top 20 overall in points standings started on the front row in the grassy field, it was Klotz/LRD backed Bill Ballance who grabbed the much sought after holeshot. He was followed closely by Team Safari/LRD/Pro Parts Racing’s Matt Smiley. The remainder of the Pro & Pro Production classes took off 1 minute later. This gives the top guns in each class an equal chance of capturing the overall win. The Pro Production class has really stepped up this year as many more Pro racers jumped ship to join the Pro Production class. Racers such as Yokely (#3), Brad Page (#5), & Johnny Gallagher (#14) are now mounted on Suzuki LTZ400’s with stock frames as opposed to the after-market framed 2-strokes.
The Pro Production class is in it’s sophmore year of the GNCC Series. The ATV manufacturers are really relishing this new class. In the past years, the Pro, among other, classes have turned into to an almost totally after-market ATV class which you can not buy in your local dealer showroom. For the Pro Production class, there are rules that each racer has to follow. Among them, they have to run 4-stroke ATV being made today and run the stock chassis & motor mounts, but they are allowed to modify other area’s of the ATV. The promoters & racers feel this class will help put the spotlight back on the ATV’s currently being produced on the market today. With this new class, the manufacturers are really starting to step up their racing support by offering contingencies & helping dealerships supply top racer’s with new ATV’s to race. Let’s give a BIG welcome back to the manufactures & Racer Productions for starting this class!
As the racers battled for the lead, Ballance was soon being challenged by 20-year old, East Coast/LRD backed Chris Borich (#4). Smiley soon dropped out of the race with a mechanical failure. This particularly hurts Smiley since this is his 3rd DNF this season. Last season, Smiley was nick-named Mr. Consistency for his ability to finish on the podium at almost all the GNCC races, this season he sure needs some of that consistency back! Borich, however, proved to be a force to be reckoned with on this sunny day. Ballance & Borich quickly pulled their lead away from 3rd, 4th & 5th overall, K&K’s Greg Trew, Four-Stroke Tech’s Chad Duvall & Yoshimura/IMS/ITP/Nac’s/Roll backed William Yokely who compete in the Pro Production class by mid-race.
Borich gained the lead as he passed Ballance who was stuck in a mud-hole. It took 5-6 spectators with a tow strap to pull him out! Ballance made a hard charge to catch Borich. Borich was leading the last lap until he crashed pretty hard. “I caught a kicker and it threw me over the bars. The hardest part today was picking the right lines.” Said Borich. At this point, Yokely was now leading the Production class in a raging battle with Duvall. Yokely had charged so hard, he was within sight of Ballance & Borich. Once he saw him, he decided to plow hard through the middle of a deep mud hole & got stuck. The spectators, again, saved the day & pulled him out.
At the checkers, it was Bill Ballance with the overall win, with Borich finishing 2nd 30 seconds back. “Chris ran a real good pace today” said Ballance. Yokely & Duvall charged hard to finish in 3rd & 4th overall while placing 1st & 2nd in their Pro Production class. Yokely commented after the race “my bike was working awesome, but I was getting some arm pump out there”. Others racers agreed & many had lots of blisters on their hands to prove what a rough track it was.
Here’s someone to keep an eye on… Four-Stroke A’s Bryan Cook seems to be making quite a name for himself. After finishing 1st in the GA GNCC & an impressive 4th Overall, he continued his winning streak. He won the Four Stroke A class again in Steele Creek and, again, placed in the top 10 overall finishing 9th!
In the morning race, there was a continuous battle for the overall lead between top women’s contender, Traci Cecco & 4-stroke stock racer, Adam Howell. Cecco, now mounted on a Team Alba backed Suzuki Z400 crashed hard in the first turn leaving her main rival Stephanie Parton to grab the holeshot. Cecco charged hard catch up to Parton & Angel Atwell who was now leading. Cecco passed both Parton & Atwell and held her lead for the last 3 laps. Meanwhile, Adam Howell who is now competing on a Kawasaki V-Force 700 was on auto-pilot most of the race as 2nd place was more than 2 minutes behind him throughout the race. He was set on gaining time to secure his overall win against Cecco who started on the first row. Even though Traci crossed the finish line first (right in front of him), Howell gained the overall win with the extra minute deducted from his time.
Other finishes:
Pro: 1. Bill Ballance 2. Chris Borich 3. Santo Dirisi
Pro Production: 1. William Yokely 2. Chad Duvall 3. Brad Page
250A: 1. Ray Lippencott 2. James Wahl 3. Dirk Decesare
4-stroke A: 1. Bryan Cook 2. Duane Johnson 3. Jeff Stoess
Open A: Dave Hogg 2. Brian Schmid 3. Michael Lucas
Top 10 Overall Points going into Round 4:
1. Bill Ballance – 81
2. Chris Borich – 54
3. William Yokely – 46
4. Brad Page – 44
5. Chad Duvall – 43
6. Johnny Gallagher – 36
7. Brandon Ballance – 35
8. Greg Trew – 30
9. Bryan Cook – 30
10. Chris Jenks – 25
Next Race is Big Buck GNCC in Union, SC on April 12th. Come & see if Ballance will pull off another win or if Smiley will make a big return!