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Borich Wins GEICO
Mountain Ridge GNCC in Last Lap Battle, Takes
Points Lead Back
Borich Outlasts Chris Bithell’s
Charge, Bill Ballance Finishes Third
Chris Borich wins and takes points lead
back! |
Somerset, PA – East Coast ATV’s Chris Borich
and Yamaha’s Bill Ballance may try to keep the
pressure off during their closest title fight
ever, but they can’t hide much longer. Borich
nailed a big overall win at the GEICO Mountain
Ridge round of the Can-Am Grand National Cross
Country Series, and his emotions on the podium
made it clear that this title means the world to
him.
“What a race,” said Borich. “Some people think I
haven’t been training over the break; but guess
what? I have been. I got the point’s lead now,
and I’m just going to come out here and do the
best I can and hopefully win the rest of them
and grab me a championship. I need one.”
Borich answered any doubts about how hard he
worked over the summer, fighting hard for the
win in an early battle with Ballance and Adam
McGill, and then surviving an unbelievable
charge down the stretch from LTERacing.com’s
Chris Bithell. Ballance struggled with some
equipment issues and persevered for third,
McGill had a big crash that knocked him to
fourth, and Bithell simply ran out of steam
after charging so hard all day.
Bithell, 19, came from last place all the way
back to lead the race, before finishing second.
“Off the start, someone just got up underneath
me from behind and I went off the bike, just
like usual,” said Bithell. “I rode my butt off
the first couple laps, being stupid through the
dust, passing four guys at a time through dust
sections. I really wanted to win and I knew I
had to catch these guys.”
Ballance was struggling to keep pace. “I don’t
know how I ended up in third,” said Ballance. “I
just had a bad, bad day. I caught a big rock on
the first lap, I think it bent a shaft in the
shock and I think all the oil’s out of it now.
One of the front shocks is messed up pretty bad.
We were having some problems out there in the
water, that’s the first time that’s ever
happened. Hey, I got third. I don’t know how, it
seems like we were just barely going around the
track, but it’s what I needed to hopefully move
onto the championship after all this.”
Fun-loving West Virginia native McGill was in
the hunt, too, following Borich after the start
and making moves for the lead midway through. “I
followed him and watched his lines, the second
lap is where I started making my passes,” said
McGill. “I know I have the speed now. I just
want to win one so bad, so bad you just wouldn’t
believe it.”
McGill took the lead from Borich but tagged a
lapper, sending him flying over the bars. He
landed on the trail and Borich nearly ran him
over. “I just about ran him over,” said Borich.
“So I had to back up and take off and that’s
when Chris got the lead, and Bill went by and I
was right behind him. I just pushed and pushed
and caught back up to Chris and we pretty much
checked out. We had an awesome battle out
there.”
Bithell may have been able to hold on for the
win, but fatigue finally caught up to him after
two hours chasing the pack after his first-turn
crash. “I took the lead there and just tried to
hold it,” said Bithell. “Chris must have passed
Bill somewhere, and he came on strong. We
battled, and I really didn’t have enough
endurance there at the end. I was really working
the whole race, and my arms were getting weak. I
did the best I could to hold them off, we passed
back and forth at the end. He got me in a mud
section, he just knew a line around it, and I
went right through it and he got around. I
wanted this win in front of all these fans,
everybody was yelling, I want to thank everybody
out there, a lot of hometown guys out here, a
lot of family, friends, everybody’s here for me
and I could hear them yelling the whole race.”
McGill
rallied late to hold onto fourth.
Ever-consistent veteran Matt Smiley was fifth on
an East Coast ATV Honda, in front of Team Excell
Motorsports’ Bryan Cook. Seventh overall went to
the winner of the XC Pro Am Class, GT Thunder
Yamaha’s Brandon Sommers. Sommers grabbed the
ATVRiders.com holeshot award, was briefly passed
by Kevin Yoho, and then got the lead back for
good. Yoho dropped into third behind Don
Ockerman before rallying late in the race to get
second place in XC2, with Ockerman third. They
finished 14th and 15th overall.
“I worked
hard over the summer so I’m happy,” said Sommers.
“I got a good start, and then Kevin got past me,
I just tried to put in good laps and keep
pushing.”
Eighth
overall went to Duane Johnson, with Brent Sturdivant ninth and Taylor Kiser rounding out
the top ten.
In the
two-hour ATV morning race, Team Warnert Racing
Can-Am swept the top three overall positions
with three different machines. Limited 4x4
Winner Michael Swift took his first overall win
over Open 4x4 Winner Scott Kilby and Lites 4x4
Winner Cliff Beasley, who actually tied for the
second-place position. Jeremy Rice won the
Sportsman class on the all-new KTM 450XC.
LTERacing.com’s Angel Atwell won the Women’s
class for the second-straight race, with
Yamaha’s Traci Cecco struggling with some bad
luck to finish fifth, with Kristen Atwell,
Jennifer Albright and Stephanie Parton in front
of her.
Seth Mumford
topped Dylan Bradford and Kyle Riley for a Cobra
sweep of the top overall positions in the ATV
Youth Race.
A total of
1419 riders competed throughout the weekend at
the Mountain Ridge GNCC, which included a
catered dinner for the racers on Saturday night
courtesy of GEICO Motorcycle and ATV Insurance.
Photo by David Scearce
Results
GEICO Mountain Ridge GNCC
Somerset, PA
September 1, 2007
ATV Overall
1
Chris M Borich
SUNBURY, PA
HON 01:56:25
2
Chris Bithell
IRWIN, PA
HON 01:56:30
3
Bill Ballance
Smith Grove, KY
YAM 01:57:35
4
Adam McGill
West Union, WV
HON 01:58:26
5
Matt J Smiley
Kunkletown, PA
HON 02:01:19
6
Bryan Cook
Casar, NC
HON 02:01:21
7
Brandon Sommers
Millersburg, OH
YAM 02:01:28
8
Duane Johnson
Trenton, MO
HON 02:01:49
9
Brent Sturdivant
Montrose, WV
HON 02:01:58
10
Taylor Kiser
Alva, FL
YAM 02:02:14
11
Santo Derisi
Casar, NC
HON 02:02:51
12
Jarrod McClure
Kaska, PA
HON 02:02:57
13
Craig Reed
Crawford, TN
HON 02:03:02
14
Kevin Yoho
Hopedale, OH
YAM 02:03:28
15
Donald Ockerman
Marshall, IL
HON 02:03:31
16
Tyler Lenig
Shamokin, PA
YAM 02:05:08
17
Kyle Martin
Winona, MO
HON 02:05:25
18
Mark Notman
Hubbard, OH
HON 02:06:07
19
William Yokley
Tompkinsville, KY
KAW 02:06:11
20
Todd Demaree
Varsialles, IN
HON 02:06:36
Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series
Standings
(After 9 of 13 rounds)
2007 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series
Standings
(After 9 of 13 rounds)
Top Twenty Overall
1. Chris Borich 240/5 wins
2. Bill Ballance 237/4 wins
3. Chris Bithell 166
4. Matt Smiley 133
5. Taylor Kiser 132
6. Adam McGill 127
7. Bryan Cook 110
8. Chris Jenks 100
8. Brandon Sommers 97
10. William Yokley 90
About GNCC Racing:
The AMA/ATVA-sanctioned Can-Am 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 1,800 riders through tracks ranging from
eight to twelve miles in length. GNCC Racing
airs weekly television shows on Versus (formerly
Outdoor Life Network) every Saturday at 3 p.m.
and Thursday at 4 p.m. beginning on April 14.
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 BRP Can-Am, Parts
Unlimited, Moose, Maxxis, Pirelli, Wiseco,
Acerbis, Elka, Geico, Klotz, FMF, ITP and
Weekend Warrior, and riders compete for over $3
million in series prizes and contingency money.
Associate sponsors include Alpinestars, Cometic,
EK Chain, HiPer Technology, Laegers, Moose
Utility Division, The National Guard, Powersport
Grafx, Race Tools, REM, Scott, Thor, Tire Balls,
Twin Air, and MotoTee’s. Media Sponsors include
Racer X Illustrated, ATV Rider, ATV Sport,
ATVRiders.com, Quadzone.com, Dirt Rider and ATV
Insider. For more information log on to
www.gnccracing.com.
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