2005 GNCC "The Penton" Round #7 Afternoon ATV Race Coverage

Some of the huge hill climbs on the course tested the best of riders ability to pick the perfect line to make it to the top without getting stuck and sliding back down.

#18 Johnny Gallagher was able to catch and pass Bill Ballance in the Pits at the beginning of the 2nd lap and he gradually worked himself within view of William Yokley and Chris Jenks out front as they approached the powerline hill climb, and Johnny’s picked the faster line up the hill and beat William Yokley and Chris Jenks to the top of the hill as he took over the physical lead of the race, but #66 Adam McGill still lead the overall and was actually closing in on Johnny Gallagher.

#7 Chris Jenks was on a roll and running only a few seconds behind William Yokley in 3rd place at the beginning of the lap three.

#4 Matt Smiley had his electrical problems solved that plagued him at Loretta’s and was looking for another podium appearance in the mud this year at the Penton as he was running in 4th place and only four seconds behind Jenks heading into the 3rd lap.

#10 Greg Trew had moved up from 11th to 6th place behind Bill Ballance in the 3rd lap

#3 Chris Borich was well off the pace of the leaders early as he dealt with his Honda 450R overheating after his vent tube was clogged which leaned it out and caused it to overheat, but it didn’t hamper Chris’s determination to try to catch back up to the leaders as he worked his way up from 9th to 6th by the end of the 3rd lap

#66 Adam McGill continued to lead the overall with #63 Scott Barron in 2nd Overall heading into the 3rd lap, but Scott Barron’s quest for the podium would end when his front tire popped off the bead, which made steering next to impossible, but he didn’t give up and continued to ride around the track until he could get to his pits.

Scott Barron made it too his pits where his crew tried to make quick work of the tire change, but they were slowed down as they had to scrap out the mud from the wheel just to get to the lug nuts to take the tire off.

The total ordeal of riding with the dismounted front tire and tire change dropped Scott back to 15th in his class after a 42:49 lap time.

#4 Matt Smiley takes over the lead after taking the white flap with a lap time of around 16 minutes, which was ten minutes faster than anyone else, so Racer Productions didn't count the lap and Matt was forced to complete the 3rd lap over again.

I later talked to Matt about what happened, and he explained that he was stuck in a bottleneck and started heading through the trees trying to find a way around it when he once again found the arrows of the track, but the only problem was it was several miles ahead on the course and he never realized the mistake until he noticed that he was already heading back across the road by the finish line, but there was no turning back, so he completed the lap and took the consequence of his misfortune.

After William Yokley and Johnny Gallagher swapped the lead back and forth several times without even realizing it because of all the different lines available, it was William Yokley out front taking the White flag in the lead in hopes of winning the Overall, but Adam McGill remained in the Overall lead heading into the final lap by 22 seconds over William Yokley.

In one lap, anything could happend and it did.