2005 GNCC "Yadkin Valley Stomp" Round #10 Afternoon ATV Racing Coverage

Yadkinville, NC - The summer break is officially over as racers made there way to the newly added “Yadkin Valley Stomp”, which replaced the “The Spartan” after a scheduling conflict with an already schedule car race event forced Racer Production to find another location for the 10th Round of the GNCC Series, and as far as parking, accessibilty, and local vendor involvement, they couldn't have picked a better location, and for more information of the location and track layout check out the "Live Coverage" thread for all the preview information.

To kick off the Afternoon Coverage, I would like everyone to be introduced to the latest additions to, 8 Time GNCC Champion, Barry Hawk's Family, his son, Talon Hawk.

Over the summer Barry Hawk was invited to compete in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games, but he was forced to decline to be with his wife during her pregnancy.

The new addition to the family for Barry Hawk didn' t slow him down one bit as he road his way to his second consecutive win and third of the season, which closed the gap on points leader Juha Salminen to 46 points.

Barry Hawk wasn’t the only rider with Championship hopes heading into the final four rounds of the GNCC series as #3 Chris Borich had his Championship hopes revitalized over the summer after five time champion, Bill Ballance, was injured at the 2006 Yamaha YFZ450 Press Intro at the beginning of August, which will have him sidelined for atleast the Yadkin Valley Stomp and possibly Unadilla as well, but even with Bill Ballance out this weekend, Borich would still need to be on the top of his game because even if Chris won this weekend, Bill Ballance still could easily comeback and win his 6th Championship by finishing near the front the remaining three races.

Chris Borich pulled out all the stops over the summer by traveling around the East Coast to race various local events to get him into his best condition of the season before resuming the GNCC series in hopes of winning his first Championship.

Please keep Bill Ballance in your thoughts and prayers as he hopefully will be ready to compete at Unadilla.

For more information on Bill Ballance’s Injury
Click Here

With Bill Ballance sidelined at home, his brother, #9 Brandon Ballance, was left to attend his first GNCC race without being in the shadow of his older brother, and #9 Brandon Ballance headed into Yadkinville, NC in high spirits looking keep Ballance Racing team on the podium as either Bill or Brandon have held a spot on the podium the entire 2005 season.

#2 William Yokley, Suzuki/Yoshimura, was gracious enough to interrupt this vacation get away in New York over the summer to attend the ATVriders.com Rausch Creek Ride this past August, which was greatly appreciated by the members in attendance.

Unfortunately, between now and then, William also injured himself by pulling a hamstring muscle, which was still bothering him heading into this weekends race, but it wasn’t enough to take the smile off his face as usual.

#5 Chad Duvall was hoping to get back on track after coming on strong in rounds #7 and #8, but he ran into problems at the Wisp, which shortened his race to only one lap.

Over the summer, Chad Duvall also was dealt a slight setback in his health as his he had to increase his medicine dosage to control his white blood cell count, and everyone at ATVRiders.com hopes this is just a temporary setback.

On a brighter note, #13 Todd Knippenberg had his newly built 450R fully assembled with his new Axis Suspension and ARS-FX components and was ready to race.

#23 Bryan Baker quietly returned to the Pro Class this year aboard his Honda 450R after making his return to racing last season for Kawasaki aboard the Vforce 700 in the Open A Class.

It take him long to readjust as he is currently ranked 9th Overall and 8th in the Pro Class amongst some talented riders.

#4 Matt Smiley and #7 Chris Jenks are good friends off the track and even teammates at the 6 Hours of ATV at Rausch Creek over the Summer, but on the track, they are in a heated battle for the 4th Overall Position.

With 191 entries and only 17 Pros, there are plenty of Amateur riders with stories of their own.

The Missouri Series was well represented this weekend with both Duane Johnson and Michael Burrows making the long trip East to compete against each other in the Pro Am Class.

#706 Duane Johnson was only able to compete in a few races at the beginning of the season in the 4 Stroke A Class, but he made the switch to Pro Am this season, and he has been on fire ever since running in second place behind #66 Adam McGill and is currently ranked 15th Overall.

Michael Burrows kicked off the first three races with lack luster results, and he has spent the rest of the year focusing on his local series, but he decided to make to get his feet wet once again in the GNCC Series.

Michael Burrows not only races, but he also fabricates his own custom nerf bars without nettings to keep the other riders from smashing his legs, but he still can easily hope off and push his quads without a problem.

Brent Sturdivant and his brother Brandon Sturdivant has also been busy racing all summer.

#316 Brandon Sturdivant has been on a roll since round #4 and hasn’t finshed lower than 33rd overall since with his season best 12th Overall coming at the Wisp, and he is currently ranked 9th in the highly competitive Pro Am Class.

#152 Brent Sturdivant on the over hand hasn’t had any luck all season and hasn’t finished more than two laps the entire season since the season opener, and he still hasn’t missed a race yet, while many others probably would have become discouraged, but not Brent.