Posted September 27, 2006

Bill Ballance tops the Podium in New York

By Jason Weigandt. Photos by David Scearce

GNCC Nationals Round 11
The Moose Racing Unadilla National Cross Country race in New York September 23 hosted yet another classic "Killer B's" battle with Chris Borich and Bill Ballance. And this time Borich appeared to have the upper hand.

The battle got so intense that Ballance decided to slow down and protect his points lead. Borich seemed to have a win in hand (left), until he ran into mechanical problems just a few miles from the finish.

"Man I just can’t get any luck," said Borich. "A few laps from the end, it was sputtering and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make it to the pits. So I pulled into the pit early and got some fuel, and then I stopped in the pits and got some more. I thought I could make it, but I couldn’t. I don’t know what was up, I think it was a fuel problem."

Ballance happily rode past to take yet another win. Now he is in position to lock up his seventh ATVA Suzuki GNCC title at the next race in Ohio.

"Chris and I got out front and it kind of seemed like the old days," said Ballance of the classic Killer B's battle. ``Chris was really hauling today and he’s in a position where he’s down in the points and he needs to get a win. He was pushing really hard. On that last lap there I could see that he was smoking. And I thought we were both riding on the edge and I have a 28-point lead. I really need to cool it and just finish second in this race. I think his motor went down, it was smoking really bad, it was hard for me to even ride behind him without sitting 30 feet back there waiting for it to clear up."

The Borich problems opened the door for Chris Jenks to put the GT Thunder Honda back on the podium with second place.

"I just want to apologize to my sponsors for not putting in results in the last two races," said Jenks, who has won two races this year but has ran into bad luck lately. "The race went pretty well. I think I was fourth in the woods. I hooked up with William (Yokley). I just got a little bit behind Chris and Bill. I just didn’t have it for them today, they were riding phenomenal."

Pro rookie Adam McGill put in a hard charge late to get to third place, his second podium of the season.

"I was just trying to ride hard," said McGill, 19. "You have to just keep your head down. We got into a bottle neck and I got out of there with Duane (Johnson), and I figured I must have been close to the front. We hooked up and I got around him. Then I saw Borich on the motocross track, and he was stopped. Then I came around and the board said third and I was like `Freaking right!' I guess I can’t thank him enough! Let’s get another one!"

Johnson took another consistent finish with fourth, while Borich managed to fix his machine and finish fifth. He was frustrated to have worked so hard to come up short late in the game.

"I don’t know what was happening today," said Borich. "It just seemed like I could pull away whenever I wanted to. I came over the hill with two miles to go and it shut off on me. It was maybe a minute I had pulled on him at that point. I’ve been working really hard, but this championship got away from me this year. I’m not going to let this put me down, I am going to come back out and show these boys what’s up."

As for Ballance, the Kentucky rider needs only to finish in Ohio to wrap his record-tying seventh-straight GNCC Championship. He grabbed yet another ITP Holeshot Award and then settled into a big battle with Borich. Borich led as the white flag came out, but then he headed into the pits for fuel, allowing Ballance to catch back up.

"When I came out of the finish line I saw him shoot in to the pits, and I assumed he had gone over to his trailer," said Ballance. "I don’t know if he was running out of gas or maybe it was just running funny with the overheating and he just thought he was running out of gas. I got back around him three or four miles into it, and then he got back around me. And then I thought this is where I really need to cool it. We were pushing really hard."

For Jenks, who would love a factory ride so he can put in more training time next year, second place was proof that his program works. "I don’t know what went wrong there for two races," said Jenks. "That’s part of it, you’ve got to be strong and believe what you’re doing. But that’s pretty hard when you’re sitting there with an 11th- or 12th-place finish.''

McGill is learning his program as well. "I have definitely learned you don’t have to be fast, you have to be smooth," said McGill. "I also learned about set up. I had Santo DeRisi do my shocks and they worked phenomenal. One of the biggest things is I wanted to beat Duane. I haven’t beaten him all year, and last year, you know, I was able to win the Pro Am title against him. So this feels good."

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© 2006, All Terrain Vehicle Association