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For Immediate Release
Contact: Jason Weigandt
Phone: 304-284-0084
Email:
info@gnccracing.com
GNCC
Racers Crowned Champions at Inaugural AMA Sports Banquet
Mike Lafferty Crowned Athlete of the Year; Bill Ballance
Named Pro ATV Racer of the Year
Las
Vegas, NV – Grand National Cross Country racing athletes
represented their sport proudly at the American Motorcyclist
Association’s first-annual AMA Sports Banquet. Held at the
beautiful Las Vegas Hilton, the finest amateur and pro-am
racers in both motorcycle and ATV disciplines gathered to
collect awards for their 2003 racing accomplishments.
Mike
Lafferty, the six-time AMA National Enduro Champion and
third-ranked rider in the 2003 GNCC Series, took the evening’s
most coveted award, the AMA Sports Amateur Athlete of the
Year. Lafferty joins racing legends like Dick Burleson and
Ricky Carmichael with the honor. Four-time GNCC ATV Champion
Bill Ballance was named the first-ever ATVA Pro Racer of the
Year, besting nominees from motocross, TT and short-track
racing.
Other
members of the GNCC Racing community were honored at the
event. GNCC Champions Barry Hawk and Bill Ballance were
honored for their titles. Jason Raines collected the AMA
National Hare Scrambles Championship, and Heather Wilson was
honored for her GNCC and National Hare Scrambles Titles in the
Women’s Class. GNCC Women’s ATV Champion Traci Cecco was
nominated for Female ATV Athlete of the Year, as was GNCC
competitor Amanda Mastin nominated for the Female Motorcycle
Athlete of the Year. GNCC ATV Racers Bryan Hulsey and Bryan
Cook were nominated for the ATVA Vet and Amateur Rider of the
Year awards, respectively.
AMA
Sports also presented a special award to GNCC Racing for its
involvement in America’s Team presented by Parts Unlimited,
the U.S. ISDE Team. GNCC Trail Boss and America’s Team Manager
Jeff Russell accepted the award on behalf of GNCC Racing.
The
AMA Grand National Cross Country series is America’s premier
off-road racing series. One of the most physically demanding
sports in the world, the nearly three-hour long cross-country
races lead as many as 1300 riders through tracks ranging from
eight to twelve miles in length. With varied terrain including
hills, mud, dirt, rocks and motocross sections, GNCC races are
tests of both survival and speed. GNCC featured sponsors
include MSR, Yamaha, Dunlop, Wiseco, Maxxis, FMF, Klotz, and
ITP, and riders compete for over $500,000 in series prizes and
contingency money. The 13-round series airs on Speed Channel
on Tuesday nights and Sunday afternoons. Associate sponsors
include Ohlins, Cometic, Scott, Sidi, Boyesen, Twin Air, Pro
Armor, Outerwears, Laeger’s, Silent Sport and Morgantown
Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and KTM.
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