Can-Am
Mammoth GNCC
Round 5 - ATV Racing Links |
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Maxxis'
#1 Chris Borich Wins Mammoth GNCC Pro
ATV XC1 |
Park City, KY
(4/29/2012) – The stage was set
for the Ballance Racing Yamaha team to attempt
defeat on the defending champ Chris Borich as
they headed to their first-ever hometown GNCC
in Park City, Kentucky for round five of the
2012 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series.
Tension was high coming into the weekend as
anticipation set in on whether or not Borich
would actually be able to fend off a hungry
field of XC1 racers for another round of racing
and after a hard fought battle to the final
seconds of racing, Borich proved that he still
has the upper hand on the rookie. The Can-Am
Mammoth GNCC boasted some of the most challenging
terrain on the circuit and racers rose to the
challenge as the two-hour race pitted man versus
machine against the rocky hills of the Park
Mammoth Resort.
Walker Fowler managed to seal the $250 Motosport.com
Holeshot Award amongst a pretty chaotic Pro
class start, and he and Ballance Racing teammate
Taylor Kiser jumped out front early on, writing
the beginning to a perfect story for the weekend.
Bowers/Coastal National Guard/Yokley Racing’s
Jarrod McClure put himself up front right
away and contested the lead pack, along with
defending champ Chris Borich, who casually
tucked into the top five right away.
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FMF Racing's #5 Walker Fowler grabbed
the Pro XC1 ATV Holeshot |
It’s always a toss up on who’s
going to lead the race early on, because in
GNCC Racing the strategy is all about picking
it up at the end of the race, which seems
to be a signature move of Borich this season,
but there were several instances where he
wanted to pass Fowler throughout the race,
but couldn’t stick the move.
“I was thinking about where I wanted
to set Walker up for the pass throughout the
entire race and I knew it was going to be
somewhere in that last field section,”
said Borich of his final pass for the win.
“Walker is riding really good this year,
but sometimes he just has to slow down to
go faster. I had a good time riding with those
guys today.”
Precision/Moto X Perts/ITP/Lonestar/RG Motorsports’
Adam McGill got himself up front right away
and quickly moved into contention for the
lead where he settled into a close third,
but as he battled back and forth with Fowler
and Borich coming through the finish line
area for the 2-lap card, McGill’s ATV
completely shut off. His pit crew spent some
time looking over the machine and determined
that he wasn’t going to be able to finish
the race.
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Yoshimura's #1 Chris Borich battled
early on with Precision Racing's #2
Adam McGill for the 2nd spot while the
pair chased after Yamaha's #5 Walker
Fowler in the lead |
“You know, this is a huge bummer for
me this season. It sounds like we dropped
a transmission today and it’s kind of
like we can’t win for losing at this
point,” McGill said of his season so
far this year. McGill still holds a one-point
lead over Kiser for the second place position
in the overall point standings.With McGill
out of the race with mechanical troubles,
Jarrod McClure inherited the fourth place
spot, but was out of striking distance of
the lead trio of Fowler, Borich, and Kiser,
who had separated themselves from the rest
of the pack. But as the laps wore on, the
track became rougher and lapped riders came
into play, which allowed Fowler and Borich
to consistently put a lapped rider between
themselves and Kiser, thus keeping him out
of the lead battle by the end of the race.
It was all down to Borich and Fowler once
again, as the rookie and the veteran set each
other up for another epic finale.
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Maxxis' #1 Chris Borich & Yamaha's
#5 Walker Fowler battle for the lead
with #3 Taylor Kiser in chase in the
final laps of the race |