2005 GNCC "The Wisp" Round #9 Afternoon ATV Race Coverage

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Mc Henry, MD - The GNCC heads north to the Maryland Mountains for one of the most scenic races of the series with breath taking views of the Deep Creek Lake from the top of the Wisp Ski Resort Slopes, but don’t let the beautiful landscape foul you because the once the riders heads into the woods they will face some roughest terrain of the series.

Early Saturday morning, it was already evident that it was going to a scorcher as a heavy haze formed in the low lying areas around the lake and with temps forecasted into the low 90’s, which was a boaters delight as many hit the water early, but for the GNCC racers, it was going to be the hottest races of the year and the last race before the two month summer break with the next race scheduled September 10th at Yadkinville, NC, which will replace the Sparta round due to scheduling conflicts.

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Many racers arrived early Friday to find a spot along the track as parking for the event was limited and only racers were allowed to drive their vehicles over to the event while spectators were required to take a shuttle bus from the fairgrounds across the street to the Wisp Ski Resort.

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The Morning Racers completed only 3 laps on the rugged 11 mile course with Mark Rhodes taking the win with a time of 1:56 with the Afternoon race scheduled for 4 laps it was going to be a long race for many especially with the heat.

#9 Brandon Ballance heads to the starting area with who I believe to be his girlfriend Nikki (If not, he better have a good excuse).

Brandon just missed the Podium at the Mountaineer finishing 4th Overall after a terrific battle with Matt Smiley most of the race and Brandon remains in 6th Place in the Pro Points and is currently ranked 7th Overall and only 1 point behind Pro Am Rider, Adam McGill.

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With this event marking the last race before the break, their were photographers from several publications and sponsors looking to capture some action shots for some upcoming catalogs and stories.

Friday Evening, PhotoG, Adam Campbell, took Bill Ballance and Chris Borich up into the woods for some action photos with others photographers having the riders stage some action shots before the start of the afternoon race.

Ofcourse, WILD, William Yokley, found this a perfect oppurtunity to have some fun as he played the role of a matador with Chris Borich, the Raging Bull.

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Only William Yokley

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#1 Bill Ballance heads into the Wisp with sole control of the Points Lead with Chris Borich giving him a run for his money at the Mountaineer as they once again finished back to back with Bill earning his 2nd consecutive win o#1 Bill Ballance heads into the Wisp with sole control of the Points Lead with Chris Borich giving him a run for his money at the Mountaineer as they once again finished back to back with Bill earning his 2nd consecutive win which gave him a 4-3 win advantage over #3 Chris Borich, so for the points chase to remain tight, Chris needed a win this weekend at the Wisp, but the advantage this weekend goes to Bill with two Previous wins at the Wisp with Chris winning one in 2003 when Bill snapped his chain.

With all the intensity this season for the first true battle for the championship in years, it has truly kept the fans coming out to watch the races and even some Pro ATV Racers with Shane Hitt coming out to watch this weekend’s GNCC race after making an appearance at High Point MX last weekend.

Shane hasn’t raced either XC or MX since his wreck early last year that sidelined him with severe ankle injury which has left him with limited mobility in his ankle and has undergone several surgeries since the injury. Even so, the multi-time TT Champion made a midseason return to racing last year and earned a win in only his second race back from his injury and finished out the season with three podium appearances in four races.

Over the winter, Shane made the switch to Suzuki for the 2005 season and in the opener in Arkansas he finished 6th with Harold Goodman taking the win on his new Suzuki ride, but I am sure that once Shane gets his dialed in that he will once again be back on the Podium and maybe as soon as the next race at Birch Creek on July 9th.

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#4 Matt Smiley,Factory Polaris, felt extremely confident heading into this race knowing that he has finished in 2nd Place Overall at all three previous races held at the Wisp, which proves Matt knows how to ride over the rocks.

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Maryland Resident, #14 Andy Lagzdins, was featured on this year's Wisp event t-shirt which sold out in a hurry as he is having a career best season finishing in the top 10 overall six times already this year.

Hopefully, he has better luck this year at the Wisp than last year because he snapped his rear linkage, but for the Wisp this year, he has the new Elka Dual Pro Link installed on his Honda and excited to test it at one of the roughest tracks of the season.

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#13 Todd Knippenberg also calls Maryland home as he lives just under an hour from the track in Cumberland, MD.

Todd brought his 400EX out of retirement for the last round because he was still waiting on parts for his 450R and nothing has changed since the Mountaineer, which wasn't good news for Todd as his clutch failed on the 400EX at the Mountaineer.

Joe Borich caught wind of Todd's dilemma and stepped right up to help him out by lending him his ArsFX and Custom Axis components to finish putting together his machine for the race, which was a perfect example of the of camaraderie shared amongst the GNCC racers.

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Pro Am Rider, #316 Brandon Sturdivant was another rider that was looking forward to the rugged track at the Wisp since he has plenty of experience hammering through the tight and rocky woods of WV in the Koontz Series, and it showed at the Mountaineer with his second best finish of the year with 6th in the Pro Am Class and 15th Overall.