Posted June 11, 2007

Photos by David Scearce.

Ballance grabs win from McGill in the last corner at the Weekend Warrior Spartan GNCC

Yamaha's Bill Ballance is back on top in the Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series, but it took an amazing last-turn pass to steal the lead from sophomore pro Adam McGill to take the Weekend Warrior Spartan GNCC.

In an amazing battle, Ballance rallied late in the race to grab a big win, and he was aided further when brake troubles slowed his championship rival, Chris Borich, who ended up sixth after winning four straight races.

"I can't say enough about the way Adam was riding today," said Ballance. "He got out front there on the first lap and just started pulling. I think a lot of us were trying to be a little bit more cautious—maybe we shouldn't have been—in the virgin stuff out there. I was taking it easy, and Adam was just checking out through there and pulled a pretty good lead on the first lap. After that, the trail cleared up and you could pretty much see everything, so I put my head down and started charging hard."

McGill, one of the funniest characters in the sport, captured his first podium of the year and almost won the race.

"I got around a few people, and it was me and Brandon [Ballance], and about four or five miles into it, we got into all of that new virgin stuff, and we were making some pretty good time," said McGill (right). "The next thing I knew, Brandon just goes 'Bam' and goes flying over the bars. He got stuck between two trees. I got around him and I just started riding smooth, just thinking about stuff to make me smile so I wouldn't tense up. I came around the first lap and I was leading, and I was like ‘Man, let's do this.'"

Ballance finally closed in and set up a big battle on the last lap.

"I slowly started picking up some time and caught him there on the end of the lap," said Ballance. "He was riding great, but I was just trying inside and outside lines, just anything I could to get around him. He got kicked a little bit there that one time and I was able to pull up beside him and just started grabbing gears and pulled up the hill in front of him. It was an awful tight race."

"It was nobody's fault but mine," said McGill. "We came down through this off-camber here, right in this field, and I came a little bit wide, and when I did it threw me up over the bars. When I did that, he sat back on the seat and got around me. I gave it everything I had, but I just didn't have enough traction to get up by him. I tried here at the finish line, but what do you do? You have the seven-time champion versus the rookie, so…"

Chris Bithell came from way back to take third.

"You know, it just happens," said Bithell. "I pulled a decent holeshot and just came into the bend and got bumped around. Next thing I know I was thrown off the bike and I was in last. It seems like whenever I wreck in the beginning, I just get mad and really have to hammer down to get around these guys."

Bithell put in a big charge to get to third, ahead of Houser/GT Thunder/HMF's Chris Jenks and East Coast ATV's Matt Smiley. Borich, with brake troubles, had to stop in the pits, and then put on a charge to climb back to sixth. He is now one point behind Ballance in the series standings.

In the XC2 Pro Am class, Ryan Lane dug down deep to notch his first win of the season, snapping the six-race win streak of GT Thunder Yamaha's Brandon Sommers. Sommers gave it a run, though, battling like Ballance and Bithell down to the last corner.

"Yeah, that's about as close as it can get," said Lane. "I heard him coming, and I knew my only chance was to cut him off in the last corner, and we kind of tangled, but I guess that's how it goes."

"I knew it was coming, so we had a good race today and I'm happy with what I got," said Sommers, who came from way back in the pack after a few early crashes. "Two corners before the finish, I had got a nice line and a run on him, and I pulled up on the inside of him, and going into the last corner it was mine unless he came over, and he knew he had to come over, and I didn't have time to stop and we got into each other and had to pull ourselves apart."

"We've been real close a bunch of times, but he just wears us out," said Lane. "And finally he had a little bad luck, and I rode a pretty good pace. I didn't get too wore out today. Usually on the last lap I'm about ready to throw up."

Third went to Kevin Yoho.

"I got a decent start and just kept getting caught behind people and just couldn't get going for awhile," said Yoho. "I finally got moving the last couple laps and passed a lot of people there and got up to third."

While Sommers' win streak was over, Yamaha's Traci Cecco (right) kept her incredible season going with her seventh straight overall win in the ATV morning race (also her seventh straight win in the women's class). LTERacing.com's Angel Atwell was second, and Joey "Bam" Margeria was third, an amazing ride on his Yamaha Blaster 200.

Josh Ribley took the U2 (Utility Unlimited) class on his Kawasaki over Mike Benson, Rick Cecco topped Scott Kilby in the Open 4x4 class, and their Can-Am teammate Cliffton Beasley continued his win streak in the 4x4 Lites class. Michael Swift took the 4x4 Limited class win on a Can-Am.

The 2007 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series continues in two weeks with the all-new Moose Racing Snowshoe GNCC in Snowshoe, West Virginia on June 23 and 24.

For more information, check out www.gnccracing.com.

 

Weekend Warrior Spartan GNCC
Pos.	Racer	Make	Class
1	Bill Ballance	YAM	XC1
2	Adam McGill	HON	XC1
3	Chris Bithell	HON	XC1
4	Chris Jenks	HON	XC1
5	Matt Smiley	HON	XC1
6	Chris Borich	HON	XC1
7	Taylor Kiser	YAM	XC1
8	Bryan Cook	HON	XC1
9	Duane Johnson	HON	XC1
10	William Yokley	KAW	XC1
11	Michael Houston	YAM	XC1
12	Craig Reed	HON	XC1
13	Brent Sturdivant	HON	XC1
14	Ryan Lane	HON	XC2
15	Brandon Sommers	YAM	XC2
16	Jeffrey Pickens	HON	XC1
17	Jarrod McClure	HON	XC1
18	Santo Derisi	HON	XC1
19	Kevin Yoho	YAM	XC2
20	Michael Burrows	HON	XC1

 

Can-Am GNCC Standings (after 7 of 13 rounds)
Pos.	Racer	Points	Wins
1	Bill Ballance	186	3
2	Chris Borich	185	4
3	Chris Bithell	123
4	Taylor Kiser	116
5	Matt Smiley	96
6	Adam McGill	93
7	Chris Jenks	86
8	Brandon Sommers	85
9	Bryan Cook	82
10	William Yokley	73
11	Duane Johnson	57
12	Brandon Ballance	53
13	Ryan Lane	52
14	Craig Reed	47
15	Brent Sturdivant	34
16	Andris Lagzdins	33
17	Michael Houston	33
18	Jarrod McClure	32
19	Donald Ockerman	22
20	Kyle Martin	20

© 2007, All Terrain Vehicle Association