Racing
2004 ATVA/AMA
Grand National Cross-Country Series
Balance dominates at the Maryland ATVA Grand National Cross Country race
By Jason Weigandt
Aug.
18, 2004 – After a few weeks of strong results from the hungry young contenders
in the ATVA Grand National Cross Country series, the big names of the series
moved back to the head of the class at the Parts Unlimited Wisp GNCC in McHenry,
Maryland, June 26-27.
Four-time
GNCC Champion Bill Ballance logged yet another dominant performance, and his
usual rivals, Matt Smiley, Chris Borich, William Yokley and Chad DuVall, all
gave chase.
"I was up and down for the first lap or two," said Ballance. "I tried to get around William, but I caught his back tire and wound up end-o-ing over the bars and off the bike. After that, I got a little bit ticked off, really. I just held the throttle wide open."
Ballance
rode an extra lap before pitting, which allowed him to grab the lead and extend
it and from there the competition would not be able to put a dent in his gap.
Team Safari's Smiley was second for the third time this year, and once again he led the race early. "I was out front, but I knew Billy, Chris and William would be coming. Billy got away from me, but I caught back up to him. I was pushing really hard and ended up going over the bars. Then I had another war to wage with Chris and William. I was just trying to hold on."
Smiley
(right) was up front all day, but Yokley started chasing him down with just a
few miles to go. Then Yokley got hung up with a lapped rider, opening the door
for Borich to take third.
"There were just five of us battling the whole time," said East Coast ATV's Borich. "I was just trying to get around William. I saw he got hung up with a lapper and I held it wide open. It's just awesome racing with all these guys."
Yokley held onto fourth while DuVall put in an awesome ride in his first race back from a broken collarbone to finish in the top five. In sixth came the first of the new crop of GNCC talent, Pro Am rider Jeremy Rice.
Bryan Cook, the surprise winner of the previous race in Virginia, was seventh. "I don't know why but I got nervous out there and my arms pumped up," said Cook. "I finally got going, but I was just a little too far back from those guys to catch them."
James Wahl was eighth, local favorite Todd Knippenberg ninth and Pro Am rider Chris Jenks 10th.