2006 GNCC "Big Buck" Round #4 Afternoon Race Coverage

It was confirmed as Michael Houston rounded the turn holding the lead with Team Manager, Kevin Johnston and Crystal Houston rushing out on the track to root on Houston as he screamed down the Pro Pits with the rest of the Pro no where in sight.

As Houston disappeared around the turn on the opposite side of the Pro Pits, Duane Johnson emerged in 2nd place with his hood smashed in on his Honda from hitting a tree before the Pro Pits, which bent his handlebars, bud everyone wondering what happened to Borich and Ballance?

The word would finally come in that the pair ran into problems in the last few miles of the lap with Borich’s Honda sucking water on the same creek crossing that took Bryson out of the race the lap prior and Ballance went over the bars.

William Yokley was now back in third with Bill Ballance and Chris Jenks in chase as the top pro positions were all mixed up.

Borch finally emerged around the turn, but he needed goggles. With only one lap left, he was so eager to get back into the race, he took off before his father, Joe, could get them secure, which required him to stop again and have his goggles fixed.

Next into the Pits was Brandon Ballance for a quick splash of fuel and a fresh set of goggles.

The Rookie Pros, McGill and Bithell both stopped for Fuel on the final lap with Matt Smiley coming in just under 10 seconds later for a final fuel stop to finish out the race.

In the Pro Am Class, the battle remained intense among the top four riders as they were only seconds apart with Pickens maintaining the lead followed by Kiser, Reed, and Morphew.

Tyler Lenig was nearly a minute behind in 5th place followed by Jarrod McClure in 6th as he continued his charge from a last place start passing Sean Neidlinger as he headed into the pits to see if they could fix his foot peg for the final lap of the race.

Bill Neidlinger had a fresh peg in his hand ready to make the change, but it was beyond a quick repair as the peg was almost completely ripped out of the frame similar to what happened to Sean a few years ago at Rausch Creek with his LRD Aluminum frame.

With the action in the Pro Pits settling down, it was time to head down to the first creek jump at the 7 mile mark of the final lap and see if Michael Houston would continue to hold the lead.

Sure enough, the Looney Tuned Exhaust rider, Michael Houston was out front as he launched over the creek jump with less than a half a lap to the checkered flag.

Next through was William Yokley in the second spot as Angel Atwell in the distance cheered him on with a thumbs up, and Duane Johnson was now back in the final podium spot.