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Balls
Suzuki Grand National Cross Country Series
Borich wins race, Ballance
Locks up Record-tying Seventh GNCC Title
  St.
Clairsville, OH – With yet another consistent
finish, Yamaha’s Bill Ballance rode his factory
YFZ450 right into the GNCC record books.
Ballance locked up the 2006 Suzuki Grand
National Cross Country ATV title at the FMF
Power Line Park GNCC over the weekend, tying
Barry Hawk’s all-time record with his
seventh-straight GNCC number one plate.
"I just can’t believe it,” said Ballance. “I
remember way back when we were struggling, it
was hard to even imagine winning a championship,
let alone all of these. And we’ve gone through
so many changes as we’ve tried to make the sport
better, changing rules and equipment, and the
amount of races we count for a championship. I
have the big target on me, and I have to make
sure I say and do things right, because everyone
is going to be watching me. So it’s been tough.
It feels real good to be able to pull it off.
The sport just keeps growing and growing. It’s
good for all of us to try to be good role models
and be good to these fans. That’s part of it. I
love the sport and love racing, and with the way
it’s elevating right now, it’s great to be part
of it.”
 Ballance needed only a fourth or better to
win the title, and he finished second. The win
went to his closest competitor, East Coast ATV
Honda’s Chris Borich, who also won the race last
year. “This track fits my riding style,” said
Borich. “It’s high speed and I just let it all
hang out. Me and Bill were going through the
water leading, and I just started laughing,
because (Brent) Sturdivant just went wide open
through the water. He was gone! Bill let me by
and I tried to reel him in. He was going pretty
good. I finally got around him, and he got back
by me, and then I gave him the thumbs up and
told him to use his head so we could roll
together. I think he ended up doing pretty
well.”
Sturdivant, who raced the Pro Am class
earlier in the year before moving up, finished a
career-best fifth.
“We got down into the first water crossing
and all of a sudden Sturdivant just came in
there wide open,” said Ballance, who grabbed the
ITP Holeshot Award money at the start. “I was
like “Wow, that guy is going to drown out or
something. He’s going somewhere.” He was pretty
much balls to the wall, all over the rev
limiter, and I was just letting him go. I know
Chris was wanting to win the race, so he came up
on me and I moved over. He gave me the thumbs up
and went charging ahead. He ran a good race, but
I ran a pace that would maybe put me in position
to win, but I was a little more on the
conservative side.”
Behind Borich and Ballance came
Monster/Yoshimura Suzuki’s William Yokley in
third. “I had some trouble getting my race face
on, I was back there cruising,” said Yokley.
“Duane Johnson got around me and he kind of
picked me up. That’s what I needed, somebody I
could set everything off of. We went after Bill,
and I got close with lappers, but I couldn’t get
close enough to make a move or anything.”
The ever-consistent Johnson was fourth, and
thanks to bad luck suffered by GT Thunder’s
Chris Jenks, Johnson now sits an amazing third
in points heading into the finale in Indiana in
two weeks.
The other seven-time GNCC ATV Champ, Barry
Hawk, was invited to the podium for photos with
Ballance. “I never imagined I would get seven in
row, and once I retired from the ATV side, I
thought Bill might win a couple of
championships, but I never thought he would win
seven,” said Hawk. “So I congratulate him on
that. This has come a long way. When I won my
championships, the factories didn’t do much for
me. It’s a shame that it took so long, but I’m
glad it finally happened, because these guys
deserve it.”
 Much like last year, Borich appeared to be a
championship favorite early when he won the
season-opening event in Florida by a huge
margin. “We had a couple of bad races and let it
slip away from me,” said Borich. “I don’t want
to let him get that eighth title next year.”
But Ballance won’t stop working. “Actually,
I’m doing nine days of suspension testing next
week,” said Ballance. “The work doesn’t stop.
Hopefully we show up at Ironman ready to win.
It’s been tough, there was a lot of competition
this year. I didn’t think I could wrap it like
this, five or six races ago I thought it was
going to come down to the wire. We made some
good decisions and we had luck on our side.”
The race was taped for an airing on the
Versus Network (formerly OLN). The shows air
weekly on Saturdays and Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m.
The AMA-sanctioned Suzuki Grand National
Cross Country series is America’s premier
off-road racing series. The 13-round series is
produced exclusively by Racer Productions.
Cross-country racing is one of the most
physically demanding sports in the world. The
nearly three-hour long GNCC races lead as many
as 1800 riders through tracks ranging from eight
to twelve miles in length. With varied terrain
including hills, woods, mud, dirt, rocks and
motocross sections, GNCC events are tests of
both survival and speed. GNCC featured sponsors
include Parts Unlimited, Moose, Maxxis, Pirelli,
Wiseco, Klotz, FMF, ITP and Tire Balls, and
riders compete for over $3 million in series
prizes and contingency money. Associate sponsors
include Moose Utility Division, Scott, Acerbis,
Alpinestars, Cometic, Outerwears, Twin Air,
Polisport Plastics, Thor, Motion Pro, Hyper
Wheels, Elka Suspension, MotoTee’s, Weekend
Warrior, Race Tools, Powersports GrafX, EK Chain
and Laeger’s. Media Sponsors include Dirt Rider
Magazine, ATV Sport Magazine, www.ATVRiders.com
and Racer X Illustrated. For more information
log on to
www.GNCCRacing.com.
Photos by Raymond Gundy,
raymondgundy@aol.com.
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