Early in the race, it looked as if Adam McGill
would quite possibly be the one sitting at the
top of the podium at day’s end, but unfortunately
for Adam, that was not the case. McGill got
off to a decent start and took the lead from
Borich in the third lap, but Adam’s hopes
for a win were dashed when he got tangled up
with a lapper one mile into the fourth lap and
ended up wrecking. Luckily McGill was not hurt
and was able to continue the race and claim
the final spot on the podium.
Honda privateer Bryan Cook got off to a slow
start, but was able to make his way through
traffic from 15th place to claim fourth place
overall and finish just over two minutes behind
Kiser while Donald Ockerman rode an extremely
consistent race to round out the top five.
Brandon Ballance also suffered a slow start,
but mad a hard charge to finish in 6th place.
Meanwhile, Can-Am Warnert racing’s Chris
Bithell rode a trouble free race. Bithell had
worked himself into 4th place early in the race,
but also suffered a wreck in the final lap of
the race, which dropped him back to a 7th place
finish. Jeff Pickens, who claimed a mid pack
start, rode a smart race to finish his day in
8th place.
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#13 Chris Bithell |
#101
Brandon Ballance |
Yamaha/GBC/ATVRiders.com’s Jarrod McClure
ran into problems early in the race when he crashed
just off the start. McClure, who is on a Yamaha
YFZ450 this season kept his focus and was able
to work his way back up for a 9th place finish,
while Johnny Gallagher rode a solid race to round
out the top ten.
Brandon Sommers, who had a very strong start,
encountered mechanical issues in the last lap
and ended up leaving his YFZ450R on the track.
Can-Am Warnert Racing’s Brent Sturdivant,
who was plagued with mechanical gremlins through
much of the 2008 season, unfortunately continued
his bad luck streak. Sturdivant was having issued
with his battery terminal before the race. His
crew worked feverishly to fix the problem, but
shortly into lap two, the problem reoccurred,
ending things early for Brent. William Yokley
made his GNCC racing debut aboard his new National
Guard sponsored Polaris, but was having a few
difficulties. “I clipped a tree in practice
earlier this week and tweaked my wrist. It’s
still kind of tender so that did have some effect
on me, but the new Outlaw was running great.
I’ve got some really good support this
year, so I’m looking forward to having
a good season,” stated Yokley.
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#8 William Yokley salvaged an 11th place
finish as he reocovers from a wrist injury
he received just a week before the race
practicing in Florida |
2008
Senior Class Champion, #28 Thomas Wright,
made the move to the Pro Class and earned
a respectable 17th Overall finish |
Bill Ballance, who is trying for a 10th consecutive
championship before retiring from full time
racing, was still recovering from rib surgery
just a few weeks before the race, which slowed
down the multi-time champion as he pushed on
for several laps to salvage some points before
pulling in the pits before the checkered flag.
Although Balance was taking it easy in the first
round, he plans to step it up at future events
and shoot for another Pro championship.
