Racing
2004 ATVA/AMA
Grand National Cross-Country Series
Chris Borich battles to another win in GNCC in Ohio
By Jason Weigandt
October
28, 2004 – East Coast ATV's Chris Borich (right) is on fire. The young
gun from Pennsylvania outfought Champ Bill Ballance and Team Yoshimura Suzuki's
William Yokley to win the Power Line Park Grand National Cross Country race
in St. Clairsville, Ohio, October 9-10.
It was his second GNCC win in a row.
"Man that was a great battle," Borich said. "Me and William and Bill really went at it. It was just awesome."
Power Line Park hosted the best race of the year, a return to the hard-nosed battles that went away under this year's dominance of Ballance and his YFZ450. But since switching to a Honda TRX450R over the summer, Borich has gone undefeated.
"I
was leading and Bill got by me," said Borich. "All of a sudden Yokley passed
us and it was a three-man race. I was back in third, and then I got around Bill.
I went out wide and then cut in under Yokley and made a pass."
"Bill and Borich are always making the excitement up there with their battles, I was just glad to stay up there with them," said Yokley. "I had a good holeshot, but I knew those guys were going to catch up. They got around me and I just tried to play it smart. We just had a heck of a good time on the last lap. It was fun and intense swapping back and forth. My Suzuki just worked awesome out there, with the Roll Designs chassis components and Elka Shocks."
"This racing is getting fun. This is the way it should be all of the time," said the HMF/Yamaha/Maxxis-backed Ballance. "I had to work up from the back a little bit at the start. Me and Chris were battling back and forth and waiting to pass some lappers. Then before you know it here comes William Yokley along and takes the lead. Then it was a three man race.
"Going
into the last lap I passed Borich going into the mud, and I thought I would
have enough to speed to get around William on a slippery hill climb," Balance
said (right). "We came together with our front tires, and that was enough to
send me into a tree. I lost 15 or 20 seconds, and Chris was able to get by."
From there, Borich made a move on Yokley and got into the lead, a spot that has been familiar to him since switching to a Honda. "I rode a lot over the summer and then we decided to build this Honda," said Borich. "It just works for me. I feel really good now, I want to get another win and go into the off-season ready for next year."
Pro Am rider Jeremy Rice put in another incredible ride by collecting fourth overall after starting in the second row, his ninth top-10 overall ride this season. Fifth went to the always-consistent Matt Smiley on his Team Safari/Big Gun/Maxxis Yamaha, while sixth went to another Pro Am rider, Chris Jenks.
Lewis
Racing's Greg Trew (left) and Ballance Racing's Brandon Ballance were battling
hard within the top five all day, but mud bogs did them in on the last lap.
Trew got stuck and lost several minutes getting pulled out, while Ballance drowned
his Yamaha in a deep section. Both would drop out of the top 10.
Jathan
Seale was seventh, while Brandon Sturdivant, Todd Knippenberg and Michael Houston
rounded out the top 10.
The Power Line Park GNCC featured a twisting, high-speed 11-mile course. Several mud bogs opened up a variety of lines for the racers, which led to great racing and passing in every class.