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GNCC
ATV Racing
Round 1 - "River
Ranch " |
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River Ranch, FL - Alva, Florida's
Taylor Kiser started the 2009 Can-Am Grand National
Cross County Series in dream fashion by notching
his first career win at the season opening River
Ranch GNCC in Lake Wales, Florida. Kiser, who
finished the 2008 tour ranked sixth in the final
standings, topped Rockstar Yoshimura Suzuki's
Chris Borich and FRE KTM's Adam McGill on a rough,
dry, sandy race track at the West Gate River Ranch
Resort.
"This is like a dream to win it in front
of all of these people," said Kiser in
front of his home state fans on the podium.
"I saw Chris and Adam setting a good pace
out front, and I wasn't sure if I should go
with them, because this course gets so rough
and I knew it would be a long day. So I just
played it smart and it paid off."
Borich grabbed the $250 MotorcycleUSA.com Holeshot
Award and took off early. He and McGill traded
the lead a bit before McGill came in contact
with a lapped rider. "Another rider had
just pulled out of Chris' way, and then he pulled
back onto the track just as I was coming through.
I flipped the thing and it broke the bolt on
my front brake. That was some bad luck there."
McGill took an extended pit stop, and Kiser
went around to take second. Then Borich started
struggling as his clutch started fading. "I
felt real good, real strong early," said
Borich. "I've been training a lot harder,
hitting the gym real hard. We're ready. I ride
the clutch a lot through those sand whoops,
but in this sugar sand it started to fade. I
really had to change my riding style on the
last lap just to get in to the finish. I think
everyone probably had clutch problems out here."
Kiser admitted his clutch started fading, too,
but after he made the pass on Borich he kept
his pace up and rolled to a win by just over
a minute after two hours of racing.
Fourth went to DeRisi Racing veteran Bryan
Cook, on an Honda, with last year's XC2 Champion
Don Ockerman grabbing fifth on his factory GT
Thunder Yamaha. Sixth went to Brandon Ballance,
on a Yamaha, with Warnert Racing Can-Am's Chris
Bithell in seventh. Jeff Pickens, Jarrod McClure
and Josh Kirkland rounded out the top ten overall,
with Kirkland topping the XC2 Pro-Am Class on
his FRE KTM.
"This is the way I was hoping it would
go, but really, I was just hoping to get to
the dirt races to get a win," said Kirkland
after a day in the sand.
Second in the class went to another KTM rider,
David Crane, while third came an unheralded
Kawasaki privateer from New York, Scott Rich.
Yamaha rider Brian Wolf grabbed the $100 Rekluse
XC2 Holeshot Award and finished fifth, behind
Honda rider Eric Hoyland.
Defending GNCC Champion Bill Ballance struggled
all day dealing with the effects of getting
surgery on his ribs just three weeks ago - the
result of an injury that lingered from last
year. He finished 18th in the XC1 pro class
after completing four of six laps.
Ballance and Bithell did, however, compete
hard the night before the race as part of barrel
racing at the River Ranch Rodeo. In the end,
Ballance came up a second short of the fastest
horse while riding his YFZ450R.
In the morning race, KTM's Angel Atwell notched
the $100 GT Thunder Morning Race Overall Award
in her first GNCC on a KTM. Jennifer Albright
notched second overall and second in the Women's
class, with Warnert Can-Am's Michael Swift taking
top 4x4 honors by notching third overall and
winning the 4x4 Limited Class.
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