2006 GNCC Series Round #5 - Loretta Lynn's - ATV Race Coverage

The biggest surprise of the morning was C Class rider Ronnie Mills claiming the final podium spot on his race ready Honda 450R, which was the first time this season that anyone besides the women have been on the Podium.

This ATVriders.com member came close at Big Buck finishing 4th Overall ahead of myself on the Yamaha Raptor 700 as we both fell just short, but he was able to use the muddy conditions to his advantage and edged out John Gallagher for the final podium spot as Angel Atwell finished in the 5th Overall position this weekend.

The Top 3 Overall Finishers took to the Podium to celebrate their great rides at the Loretta Lynn’s GNCC, and the Morning racing action will be covered in full detail in a couple days by ATVriders.com Morning Reporter, Fred Mudd.

Podium (left to Right)
Stephanie Parton, Traci Cecco, Ronnie Mills

Yamaha's Travis Hollins congratulated Traci Cecco on her win after the race as he headed over to watch the start of the Afternoon Race with several other Yamaha representatives visiting from Japan and taking the opportunity to watch some GNCC racing action.

The Loretta Lynn’s track is a favorite of Bill Ballance for many reasons, and I am sure that its close proximity to his home in Kentucky is one of them because it provides the opportunity for several of his family members to attend and watch the race, and this weekend, he was joined track side by his father, which was surely extra special for Bill especially since Bill himself is the proud father of a new baby girl.

Jeremy Rice missed the Big Buck GNCC, but he was back for Loretta Lynnn's on still an almost completely stock Suzuki LT-R450 as he continues to wait on suspension, A-Arms, and various other parts to have narrow up his QuadRacer and provide a smoother ride with suspension setup for XC racing and not MX as the new QuadRacer was engineered.

ITP supplied the Top ITP Pro Riders with ITP Canopies with the Pro Riders Names on them, which really helped to spice up the Pro Pits.

#11 Bryan Cook was geared up for the first time since breaking his Collarbone in Florida as he prepared to head to the starting line.

#5 Matt Smiley might not be having the best of luck this 2006 season, but it hasn’t dampened his spirits as he has some fun in staging to lineup for the start of the Pro Race by pretending to play havoc on Borich’s Honda in an attempt to slow down his long time friend and Pennsylvania racing partner for several events outside of GNCC racing.

Matt Smiley started out the season on the new Polaris Outlaw, and he is very impressed with this new machine, but he just dosen’t have it dialed in enough to be competitive at the Pro level in the GNCC Series as of yet, so he has made the switch back to straight axle Polaris Predator.

Goodtime Charlie, Adam McGill, was having some fun with Brandon Sommers as they rough housed with each other before the race.

Pro Rookie, Duane Johnson, has created all the buzz in Missouri and around the Country as he has jumped into the Pro Class swinging and dicing it out on a race to race basis with the fastest XC Racers in the World, so far this season, his worse race was in Florida when he finished 7th Overall. He has been in Podium contingency every race since, which is very impressive for a first year Pro.

The points chase has really heated up this season once again with Bill Ballance having a real battle on his hands trying to tie Barry Hawk by winning his seventh Championship with Chris Borich continuing to lead the Points chase, but Bill Ballance closed the gap at Big Buck with his second place finish while Borich finished a disappointing 4th place after stalling his Honda after the creek crossing, which left him sitting for nearly 30 seconds trying to restart his machine.