Racing
2004 ATVA/AMA
Grand National Cross-Country Series
Bill Ballance bests Steele Creek GNCC
May
27, 2004 – Four-time ATVA Grand National Cross Country Series Champion
Bill Ballance is showing no signs of letting up on his quest for title number
five.
The Oakland, Kentucky native bested over 580 riders on a rough, high-speed race track at the Steele Creek Campground in Morganton, North Carolina, March 20-21. It's his third-straight win of the young 2004 GNCC season.
"It
was rough out there," said Balance. "But it can't get much better than this.
It was a great day to race, and I really appreciate all the people out there
cheering us on. It makes a big difference on a rough track like this. We were
battling hard, and I wanted to win it bad."
Ballance
battled stiff competition, especially from Pennsylvania's Matt Smiley (left).
Smiley chased Ballance throughout the final 11-mile lap, and nearly pulled off
a pass for the lead in the final mile.
"I was running right there," said Smiley. "I didn't know where to get around him, but then all of a sudden this big bush just started moving! I didn't know what was going on, I guess some fans were pulling it back so I could get through, but I wasn't sure. I didn't even see them. So I missed my chance to go for it."
After two hours of racing, Smiley ended up second by just five seconds.
Third
went to West Virginia's Chad DuVall (left). "I like this course here. It was
a Chad-style course," joked DuVall. "It got really rough, the holes and bumps
were really big. I had a good start, but I made a mistake and hit a tree, and
I stood the quad straight up and came off. I lost a lot of time there."
DuVall would eventually crawl all the way back to the leaders, Ballance and Smiley, but couldn't execute the pass needed to take a win.
Other favorites struggled, like Suzuki's William Yokley, who led early but got stuck behind slower, lapped riders on a hill climb and lost time. Pennsylvania's Chris Borich also led the race, but he got caught on a vine and was pulled from his machine. Both riders were uninjured, but they had hoped for better results.
The
GNCC event also featured a two-hour race in the morning for beginning riders
and amateur classes. The race was won by a female rider, Ohio's Stephanie Parton
(right), who also works at an ATV shop back at home. "It was a good day," said
Parton. "I just tried to be smart and get around the slower riders. The Steele
Creek course is definitely a tough one."
Traci Cecco, another female racer, was second, with a several hundred male competitors coming in behind them.