Round 1 GNCC Nationals
Winner Chris Borich celebrates on the podium with runner-up William Yokley and
third-place finisher Brandon Ballance. Photos by Raymond Gundy.
Chris Borich dominates GNCC season opener
March 8, 2006 – East Coast ATV/Honda’s Chris Borich proved that he is serious about winning the 2006 Suzuki Grand National Cross Country Title, as the young Pennsylvanian dominated the season-opening Suzuki Orange Crush GNCC in Florida. Borich dove underneath defending GNCC Champion Bill Ballance in turn one to steal the ITP Holeshot, and then pulled away from the field at an amazing rate to win the race by over three minutes. It was one of the most dominant wins in GNCC history.
"I
knew everyone else would be strong, so I’ve been training really hard and
working at this,” said Borich, who nearly won the GNCC title last year. “I felt
good. I just kept pushing and never felt tired. It was only a couple miles in,
and I looked back and couldn’t see anybody. I was thinking, 'Cool.'"
Borich stayed cool while many top contenders had problems on the ultra-rough and whooped-out track. But Yoshimura Suzuki’s ever-popular William Yokley had a good day, marking the GNCC debut of the Suzuki LT-R450 QuadRacer with a runner-up finish. Yokley simply took a stock LT-R, bolted on Elka shocks, a Yosh exhaust and ITP tires and finished second.
“I just had my pace, and that was all I was comfortable doing,” said Yokley. “This thing does pretty good with just a couple of add-on parts. I got on one with stock shocks, and it was awesome. I knew that was the machine I needed to be on.” Yokley, of course, was smiling on the podium as he said this.
The closest battle of the day was for third, as Brandon Ballance and Chris Jenks dueled for the final podium spot. A tired, but determined, Brandon took the position.
“There were a couple of sections where you could get on the top of the whoops, but most of it you were going down in them,” said Ballance. “It was rough. On the third lap, I went over the bars and accidentally unplugged my kill switch. Chris came up on me, he was really pushing me hard.”
Jenks finished fourth.
And what of Bill Ballance, the six-time and defending GNCC Champion? Once again Florida did not go his way. The champion was locked in a big battle early with Jenks and ATVA National Motocross Champion John Natalie, who was giving GNCC Racing a shot. But Ballance bent a tie-rod on his factory Yamaha YFZ450 and lost major time for repairs. It appeared the champ would fail to score any points, but he charged hard through the final two laps and pulled off eighth, saving a ton of points in the process.
Natalie claimed a respectable fifth. His clutch perch rattled loose halfway through the race, but he battled back without a clutch and looked very fast.
In the ATV morning race, Yamaha’s Traci Cecco topped an all-female podium, with Polaris rider Stephanie Parton in second and Angel Atwell in third.
The 2006 Suzuki GNCC Series continues next weekend with the Maxxis General GNCC in Washington, Georgia. For more information, visit the GNCC racing website.