2005 GNCC "Loretta Lynn's" Round #6 Afternoon Coverage

The Starting location was moved down road over a mile away from everything, but it was one of the only remaining dry spots in the field that would hold several hundred racers for the start of the event.

The day before, the new start location was completely dry and served as the only locations the riders would cross over the road from one side of the property to another.

Take a careful look at this photo and the Banners to the Far Left in the grass field because by Saturday the grass field had disappeared as shown in the photo to follow.

That same turn today was submerged under a foot of water, and the water came right up to were the riders lined up for the start of the race.

Heading into Loretta's, #3 Chris Borich, once again held sole possession of points lead and the Overall and felt confident that he would be able to keep his Alba Action Honda out front of the 5 Time Champion, #1 Bill Ballance.

Matt Smiley was ready to once again put his Polaris Predator back on the Podium after finishing in the top three Overall 3 out of the last 4 races.

#2 Factory Suzuki Rider, William Yokley, was all smiles before the race Saturday because of the wet and muddy conditions. The last two muddy races in 2004 at John Penton and the Ironman Yokley was able to capture the Overall both times in the mud and after having several after having his worst race of the season this past race at Big Buck when he was left sitting with a clogged vent hose, but still managed to finish 9th Overall, Yokley is looking to follow it up with an impressive performance in the mud.

Finally, Brad Page, was back in action after skipping out on all the fun for the 1st five rounds of the season. Brad followed the complete series for years, but his family and busy schedule has prevented him from racing the entire season, but he still tries to hit the ones closer to home and give it his best shot against the best woods racers in the world.

Brad lead the Overall last year in the last lap at Loretta's before his body became fatigued from not racing week after week and had to settle for a 5th Overall, which was rather impressive if you ask me, but who am I?

Good Friends, #18 Johnny Gallagher and #10 Greg Trew have teamed up for the remainder of the season and are looking for things to start turning around.

Greg Trew has got a head start on Johnny after putting in an incredible comeback and finished 4th Overall after struggling through several DNFs at the beginning of the season.

Johnny Gallagher switched to the Honda this season after running the Z400 the past few years in hopes of getting back into the groove he had early with the Suzuki. Unfortunately, Johnny hasn’t been able to get everything to fall into place this season, but he has made some more changes in hope of working his way back into the top 20 Overall.

Todd Knippenberg has been having a fairly consistent season finishing in the top 20 Overall every race this season except the opening round at Texas, but unlike last year, he hasn’t been able to crest the top 10 overall yet this season.

Maryland residents, Todd Knippenberg and Andy Lagzdins lower thier heads during the prayer before the start of the race.

With the playing of the National Anthem, we were within minutes of the start of a grueling three lap race that would test the even the most experience riders for their ability to make split section decisions while negotiating the extremely technical and rugged terrain that waited ahead.