Racing
2003 ATVA/AMA Grand National Cross-Country Series
Borich Beats the Thumpers
GNCC Young Gun gets his third win in four races
By Jason Weigandt
Oct.
7, 2003 – Yamaha YFZ450s mounted an assault of the ATVA Grand National
Cross Country Series podium, but the one holdout held them off. East Coast ATVs
Chris Borich survived one of the greatest GNCC ATV battles in years to win the
Power Line Park GNCC in Ohio, his third win in the last four races.
"I’m pretty happy," said Borich, riding a Laeger’s / LRD 250R. "Those four-strokes go pretty good through the water. On the first lap I had the lead and couldn’t get through the water and the mud and lost some spots. I had to keep playing with my shock so I could hook up."
Borich was the best of a five-rider pack that dueled intensely all day long. Team Safari’s Matt Smiley raced home second on his Yamaha. Chad DuVall put his YFZ into the lead late in the race, but then slipped on a hill and ended up third.
"I
felt great," said the LRD / Pro Parts Racing / MSR-backed Smiley. "I was battling
with Chris on the last lap and we all got stuck in this mud hole, me Chris and
Bill (Ballance). Chad wound up getting by us there."
"Anytime I make the podium against these young guns I’m tickled to death," said the GYT-R/White Bros. / Elka / Maxxis / MSR-backed DuVall. "I actually got a good start today and got to save some energy. About two miles back I had this race won. Everyone got stuck and I went right through the middle."
Fourth went to defending series’ champion Bill Ballance, also on a Yamaha. With the fourth, Ballance officially wrapped up his fourth-straight GNCC title. "It’s great having the points lead we did because we’re able to gear up for next year on these four-strokes," said Ballance. "I thought I could have won this one, but I just didn’t get the breaks with lappers and picking the right lines. The Yamaha is awesome though."
Fifth went to Duncan’s Brad Page, who was also on the pace until he stuck his Kawasaki KXF400 in a deep mud hole and lost a few minutes pulling it out. Nac’s / IMS / Roll / Yoshimura rider William Yokley also ran with the lead pack all day, and even looked like a candidate for his second-straight win. But he broke the sub frame off of his Suzuki and lost several minutes bolting on a new one.
With
DuVall taking the Pro Production win and Yokley only claiming 14th in the class,
DuVall now has a solid class points lead heading into the final round.
Borich grabbed the holeshot on his 250R, and he battled hard with Yokley early. Then he stuck it in the mud and lost some spots. Ballance picked it up from there, with DuVall and Smiley in tow.
After Page stuck his Kawasaki, it left a five rider pack of Ballance, Yokley, Smiley, Borich and DuVall. And they went at it hard, with each rider taking a share of the lead. Once Borich adjusted his rear shock and found some traction, he appeared to have the race won. But then he, Smiley and Ballance picked the wrong line through the mud.
"There was a line through the water where you had to cross a tree, and it worked on every lap except the last one," said Smiley, who was in second. "Chad went right by us."
"I thought ‘Man this race was just handed to me,’" said DuVall. "Then we got to this hill climb and I hesitated just a second trying to figure out which way to go. And then here comes Chris, and he clipped my front end. I lost a little speed, and I didn’t make the hill. It came to me that easy and it left me that easy."
Borich, meanwhile, held Smiley off for the win by just three seconds.