You
have won the GNCC title 8 years in a row, the
racing team consists of yourself and your technician
Elliot Skaggs. You rebuild the quads, you make
the suspension service on your own and fixing
all the sponsorships… how do you manage?
As you say, the quads come from Yamaha packed
in boxes. I spend a lot of time getting them prepared
for race. We just about tear everything off, installing
professional bits and pieces and then we have
to test it properly before we go to a race. It
is all about total devotion to what I do.
What
about Tyra (Bills wife), what is her opinion on
your devotion to the sports?
Well, nowadays she is quite happy, when I make
some descent money; Bill chuckles.
I
did some research before this interview and I
saw that your favorite track was Loretta Lynn’s,
I thought you would mention the Bill Ballance
Motocross Park back home?
Loretta’s is close to home and the track
is really fast but I do train almost every day
on my private track. It is a full size, 200 acres,
MX track with an Enduro loop. My park is actually
growing on its own, hosting 16 races in 2008,
four of them being huge events with approximately
800 riders per race.
You
are up for the 2008 season but as I have understood
this will be the final year of your Yamaha racing
contract… what’s next?
I will race in 2008 but I am in the end of closing
a new contract for the period 2009-2010 with Yamaha.
We have still not agreed on the extent of racing
that I will do, most of the time I will focus
on Yamaha Race Team Management.
Hmm…
I just have to ask the 8 time GNCC winner if it
is possible to just quit racing just like that!
Bill assures me that he will still do some serious
racing and maybe he will do some more transatlantic
flights to compete with pros in the European series
as well.
Yeah…
that’s right. I have got some invitations
during the last couple of years from European
series but they have all been in conflict with
my GNCC schedule. It would be great fun to go
to Europe to ride.
What
about the European pros, are they any good or
what?
I follow the European pro circus quite well thanks
to internet sites and ATV magazines. Some riders
have joined in on GNCC races and they have done
quite well. No wins but they are definitely competitive.
And
now for the question that’s been lurking
for so long in my head… Why is the sport
so big in the US? Why do you have so much fun
over there?
I don’t really know. That is another tough
question. Maybe the average GNCC track size of
600-700 acres is a rare slice of untouched land
in crowded Europe.
The amount of magazines, the power of the internet
sites and very good coverage of the GNCC in national
TV are all important factors why the US quad community
is huge.
The
interview is over, I shake Bill’s hand and
then I escort him back to the R&D department
so that he can test his newly invented piston
for the TTX44 shock. I can’t really grasp
that such a humble and laidback guy can shoot
it out with his 450cc quad, fighting with hundreds
of dedicated riders in the most prestigious championship
series in the US, winning the title eight times
in a row.
