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Ballance Wins Race and Record Eighth GNCC Title
at Ironman Finale in Indiana
Crawfordsville, IN - It's all over for 2007,
and the history books must now be re-written.
Bill Ballance is the all-time King of Quads in
the Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series.
The Yamaha rider went out and won the
season-finale Kloz Ironman GNCC to make sure the
championship was his, and now he has won the
GNCC crown for the eighth-straight time, an
all-time record.
"It hasn't even hardly sunk in yet," said
Ballance, clearly getting emotional on the
podium. "When I first started this years ago, I
was just hoping to be a top ten rider. To win
eight in a row, I can't even believe it. I'm
just so happy, we weren't even trying to win
this one, we were trying to take it easy and
make sure we didn't have problems with the bike,
and things started happening and we ended up in
the lead."
Ballance's rival Chris Borich looked like he
could win the Ironman, although Ballance still
would have only needed to finish 12th to win the
crown anyway. Borich took the ITP Holeshot Award
and battled with Ballance most of the day, but
he ran into trouble on the rugged track with two
laps to go and dropped to fifth. “There was a
bottle neck and I tried to climb a hill, and it
was all blown out, just deep ruts everywhere,”
said Borich. “So I got stuck there and lost some
time, went to the back. I came back up and got
stuck again on the last lap, that was about it.”
With Borich experiencing those problems,
Ballance was assured of the championship. But
the Ironman race win wouldn’t be as easy to get,
because Adam McGill was charging hard after his
first win. In third at one point and battling
with new XC2 Champion Brandon Sommers and
veteran Matt Smiley, McGill put on a strong
charge late in the race to nearly pass the
champ. “I remember Bill telling me before the
day, he said save everything for the last lap,”
said McGill. “So I did, I just followed him for
a while and we started dicing it up a little bit
and taking a little bit of chances. Brandon
Sommers got in front me and I’ll tell you one
thing—that kid can move. Hats off to him, he ran
me hard today. I guess I came out on top. I
tried to give it everything I had about the last
two miles. Bill and I came out to this last
field section, I took the line wide and he took
it tight, and when we got into the next turn, he
swung it wide and I was right up under his grab
bar. If he would have slowed down just a little
bit more, I would have been up on his seat
saying hey, what’s up to him. Hats off to
him—eight times—I don’t think anybody’s going to
beat it.”
It may seem odd that Ballance would offer
McGill advice that could lead to his own defeat,
but McGill has faith. “People say to be old and
wise you have to be young and stupid first,”
said McGill. “I look up to Bill and what all
these guys have to say. All these guys are real
good friends to me, and I don’t think they’d
steer me wrong.”
Smiley was happy to end the season with
another podium. He started nearly last but
worked his way forward. “I picked my way up
through the field pretty quickly,” said Smiley.
“The next thing you know I was pulling up to the
leaders. They all pitted and I kept going and
took the lead over. I picked a bad line on one
of the hills and dropped back. I lost my seat so
it got a little rough on the last mile. I’m just
real happy with the way things worked out
today.”
Fourth went to Sommers, matching the finish
of his XC1 pro debut at the previous GNCC in
Ohio. After the race, Sommers collected the
first-ever green number-one plate as the 2007
XC2 Pro Am Champion.
Sommers and the rest of the field would
surely like to collect their first GNCC XC1
Overall title, but Ballance plans on returning
to win number nine in 2008. “We’re coming back
again next year,” said Ballance. “We have a
contract with Yamaha, and just take it one year
at a time. We’re having fun with it, and things
are good, so just ride the boat while it’s
sailing, I guess.”
Don Ockerman won XC2 on this day, and the
season-long class contender was happy with that
result. “I got the lead on the second lap and
let it hang out; I didn’t want anybody catching
me,” said Ockerman. “Everything went perfect
today—awesome track. I learned quite a bit over
the summer and took that home, worked with it a
little bit.”
Second in XC2 went to Kevin Yoho, his third
podium of the season. “I got a bad start,” said
Yoho. “I wrecked a couple times and just finally
got going there towards the end. The start’s
pretty big because I’m pretty wore out by the
time I get to the last lap.”
Third in XC2 went to Brian Wolf, his first
podium of the season. “We had bad luck all
year,” said Wolf. “I got fifth off the line and
just went up there. It’s awesome. I never
thought I’d be up here.”
It was a banner day altogether for Yamaha,
who not only celebrated Ballance's eighth crown,
but also won the overall in the morning race
with Traci Cecco, who started in the fourth row
in the Women's class but still managed to win
the race--a fitting end to a championship
season. “I had it in my mind today; I was going
to give it all I got today,” said Cecco. “The
course is just awesome right now. You can really
hook up and it’s tacky. It’s just basically
having momentum to make it up all those hill
climbs out there. I had it my mind off the
starting line, just pass one at a time, and pass
as fast and as soon as I could and that’s what I
did. It feels really good.”
Cecco was followed by a pair of happy class
winners in the morning race, as Scott Kilby won
the Open 4x4 class and Mike Benson took U2.
Also, the UTVs had their way with the Ironman
track and it was one of the most fun events
races the series had ever seen, with about 30
machines (and 30 passengers) battling through
mud, water, hills and rocks. It was very fun to
watch--there's a good chance you'll see more of
these races in the future.
But the future, the present and the past
belongs to Ballance. "We got so many fast guys
out there riding these days, and factory support
and everything is coming, everyone is taking it
so seriously now, and spending so much time
riding and training. Things like bike setup are
a lot closer than they used to be."
Close, but once again not quite enough to
knock off the King of Quads.
The 2007 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country
Series concludes with the annual Awards Banquet
on Friday, November 23.
Results:
Klotz Ironman GNCC
Crawfordsville, IN
October 27, 2007
1. Bill Ballance (Yam)
2. Adam McGill (Hon)
3. Matt Smiley (Hon)
4. Brandon Sommers (Yam)
5. Chris Borich (Hon)
6. Duane Johnson (Hon)
7. Bryan Cook (Hon)
8. Johnny Gallagher (Suz)
9. Craig Reed (Hon)
10. Jeffrey Pickens (Hon)
11. William Yokley (Kaw)
12. Donald Ockerman (Hon)
13. Michael Burrows (Hon)
14. Bryan Baker (Pol)
15. Chris Jenks (Hon)
16. Michael Houston (Yam)
17. Brian Wolf (Hon)
18. Kevin Yoho (Yam)
19. Adam Reed (Hon)
20. Ryan Lane (Hon)
Final GNCC Overall Point
Standings
1. Bill Ballance 347/6 wins
2. Chris Borich 311/6 wins
3. Chris Bithell 237/1 win
4. Matt Smiley 203
5. Adam McGill 185
6. Brandon Sommers 175
7. Taylor Kiser 154
8. Bryan Cook 133
9. Duane Johnson 132
10. Chris Jenks 116
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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