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#1 Bill
Ballance Wins 9th Straight GNCC Pro
ATV Championship
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Cypress, CA (10/13/2008) - Yamaha’s
Bill Ballance won a record ninth consecutive GNCC
ATV XC1 Pro championship aboard his Yamaha YFZ450
in St. Clairsville, Ohio on Saturday afternoon,
Oct. 11. He also earned the title in the best
manner possible – by scoring his fourth
win of the season along the way. Better still
for Yamaha, Donnie Ockerman, the recently crowned
2008 GNCC XC2 Pro Am champion, advanced to the
XC1 Pro class and finished second behind Ballance
– an impressive feat in his first pro race.
In the morning Women’s race, Traci Cecco
likewise took her sixth race win of the season
ahead of archrival Angel Atwell, whom she now
leads by a single point going into the series’
final event. Walker Fowler also added another
win in the Schoolboy class aboard his Raptor 250.
The long cross-country course at Ohio’s
Powerline Park was wide open and fast, with
plenty of dusty fields and hill-climbs, and
the occasional mud-hole to stymie the riders.
With the XC1 Pro championship his for the claiming,
Ballance was on a mission, firing his YFZ450
quickly to the front, swapping the lead with
Ockerman early in the almost two-hour race,
and then checking out from the pack to win by
50 seconds over Ockerman, who strongly maintained
second on another YFZ450. “Bill and his
YFZ have truly added another new chapter in
the GNCC history books,” said Yamaha Off
Road Coordinator Donnie Luce.
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#201 Traci
Cecco
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The morning Women’s race proved even
more suspenseful as Cecco and Atwell fought
not only for the race win, but also for the
championship. Aboard her own YFZ450, Cecco took
the lead early and held it for all four laps,
while also scoring the overall win ahead of
all other ATV classes in the event. But it was
not without difficulty as Traci suffered both
a crash and the loss of rear-brake function,
and yet still managed to pull out a minute and
a half lead over Atwell to protect a slender
advantage in the title chase. Cecco is now on
track to win her seventh championship at the
series’ final round at Crawfordsville,
Ind. on October 25. If she can pull it off,
Yamaha will have scored the GNCC XC1 Pro, XC2
Pro Am and Women’s championships in the
same year. Go Traci!
| 2008 GNCC ATV
XC1 Pro Points |
10/11/08 |
| Pos. |
Rider |
Points |
| 1 |
Bill Ballance
– Yamaha |
262 |
| 2 |
Adam McGill |
218 |
| 3 |
Chris Borich |
212 |
| 4 |
Bryan Cook |
209 |
| 5 |
Brandon Sommers –
Yamaha |
200 |
| 2008 GNCC ATV
XC2 Pro Am Points |
10/11/08 |
| Pos. |
Rider |
Points |
| 1 |
Donnie Ockerman
– Yamaha |
278 |
| 2 |
Mark Notman |
199 |
| 3 |
Joshua Kirkland |
189 |
| 4 |
Brian Wolf |
180 |
| 5 |
Tyler Lenig |
159 |
| 2008 GNCC ATV
Women Points |
10/11/08 |
| Pos. |
Rider |
Points |
| 1 |
Traci Cecco –
Yamaha |
177 |
| 2 |
Angel Atwell |
176 |
| 3 |
Kristen Atwell
– Yamaha |
159 |
| 4 |
Jennifer Albright
– Yamaha |
153 |
| 5 |
Lexie Coulter |
152 |
About Yamaha:
Yamaha ATVs and SxS vehicles are designed, engineered
and built tough! Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A.
headquarters are located in Cypress, California.
For more information on Yamaha, visit yamaha-motor.com.
www.yamaha-motor.com
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