Racing
2004 ATVA/AMA
Grand National Cross-Country Series
Rookie Bryan Cook captures win at Grand National Cross Country race in Virginia
By Jason Weigandt
Aug.
18, 2004 – The rugged Patriot ATVA Grand National Cross Country round
held in Petersburg, Virginia, June 12-13 put the nation's best ATV woods riders
to the test, But the winner wasn't decided until a little time after the race
was over.
GNCC points leader Bill Ballance had pulled away to victory on the final lap. But after the race, it was discovered that Ballance had gotten off track while avoiding traffic, and he was assessed a two-position penalty.
This
handed the win to Four-Stroke Tech rookie Bryan Cook (left), who was already
thrilled at taking the first podium of his career when he crossed the line in
second. It wasn't the way Cook wanted to win his first race, but he was pleased
to have ridden so strong nonetheless.
"It feels awesome," said the North Carolina native after he collected the second-place trophy. "I was hoping this was coming pretty soon, so I was glad to stick it in there today. Getting up on the podium, I just can't explain it."
Much
of Ballance's day was marred by lapped traffic. "I had some problems out there,"
said Ballance (left). "It seemed like every time I would get into the lead we
would come up on a bottleneck or a pack of slower riders. But that's just part
of it. I had to be patient."
The traffic allowed Cook to work his way up from a bad start into the lead as the white flag came out. "I got a decent start but I got pushed back in the second turn," said Cook. "There was a bottleneck and I got around it and got into about fourth. Then I got hung up and made a mistake. I made a charge and tried to catch up, luckily we caught up to them.
The leaders were in a bottle neck at a check point, and I was able to get around them. Then I just stayed up there as long as I could."
Ballance then made the pass on Cook on the last lap and pulled a big lead, enjoying his first clean lap of the day. It appeared the champ had won the race, but it was later determined that he had run off the course avoiding a few lappers.
According to GNCC rules, a rider can leave the course and create a new line to get around a bottleneck. A rider must jump back onto the course as soon as possible, but Ballance was unable to find an opening and circulated outside the course markings in a field. It was not an intentional course-cut on Ballance's part, but he was captured by TV cameras riding outside the course, and a two-position penalty was assessed.
Ballance was upset over having lost the race, but luckily he continues to maintain a big lead in the series standings. His title rivals all had rough days, including William Yokley, who fried his clutch, and Matt Smiley and Chris Borich, who were also assessed two-position penalties for leaving the race track in the same place Ballance did.
Third
place, and then second after the penalty, went to Pro Am rider Jeremy Rice (right),
who rode the best race of his career to grab his first podium. The Patriot marked
the third-straight GNCC with a Pro-Am rider on the podium.
"I didn't have the slightest idea where I was overall," said Rice. "It helped not having that kind of pressure. For me the pressure came from knowing the guys in my class, like Jenks, Wahl and Seale, where right behind me. I was just fighting for my life out there."
Duncan Racing's Michael Houston and Pro-Am rider Chris Jenks rounded out the top five.
In the morning ATV race, four-stroke stock rider Tyler Lenig took the overall by just seconds over Troy Racing's Stephanie Parton.