| |
| Yamaha's
Brandon Ballance held the early lead before
his brother, Bill Ballance, took over the lead |
By the second lap, Bill Ballance had assumed his
usual spot at the front, with BJ and Chris Bithell
behind him. John Natalie completed the second lap
in fourth, but pulled off in order to save his hands
from blistering to be in top shape for next weekend's
MX opener. Borich moved into fourth ahead of Jenks.
Matt Smiley's first race on a Honda since 2003 was
slowed because of a rear shock failure. Bill had a
minute and a half lead at the end of lap three over
a determined Chris Borich, who had moved past BJ and
Chris Bithell. XC1 Pro rookie Taylor Kiser was putting
his homestate sand experience to good use as he moved
up to fifth ahead of Yokley on the Kawasaki. William
was putting in a remarkable ride considering his limited
time on the brand new machine. A fading Jenks was
now coming under pressure from another XC1 Pro rookie,
Ryan Morphew.
|
|
| #9
Michael Houston & #16 Brent Sturdivant head
back to the pits with mangled front-ends |
#13
Tyler lenig snapped his front spindle, which
sent him back to pits for repairs and returned
to the race |
Lap four is when I started to feel it. That what-am-I-doing-to-myself
beat down feeling that sets in after about 40 miles
of hard whoop riding. My knees started to burn, so
I sat down a little more. Then a couple of vertebrae
crunching kickers changed my plan to getting over
the front of the quad to use my arms more. Then the
front dropped into that no-man's land between two
monster mogul whoops, putting my chest on the steering
stem and my legs in the air like a trapeze artist.
So then I reverted to my standard hold-on-like-a-wet-noodle-until-the-finish
technique, which worked good as I was able to move
near the top ten at the end of the fourth lap
|
|
| Pro
Rookies #17 Taylor Kiser put on a great show
for his hometown crowd by securing his first
ever Podium finish in his Pro debut, and #11
Ryan Morphew finished an impressive 5th place
behind #5 William Yokley
|
Bill Ballance led into the last lap, with Borich
now forty seconds behind. Chris had won this race
the last two years and was determined to win again.
Taylor moved into third as Brandon Ballance clipped
the ITP banners on the turn exiting the Pro pits and
he and his YFZ tumbled into a ditch costing him valuable
time. Yokley moved up to fifth with a battle going
on behind him for sixth between Chris Bithell and
Ryan Morphew.
Bill Ballance put his head down and charged to a
big win over Borich, a victory that had eluded him
the last few years. Taylor Kiser made his Florida
fans happy by getting on the podium in his first XC1
race. William Yokley barely missed the podium, a phenomenal
ride on the obviously competitive new KFX450. Ryan
Morphew shadowed William at the checkers in fifth
spot. BJ Ballance regrouped after his crash and salvaged
sixth place in front of Chris Bithell. Bryan Cook
took eighth, which was much better than last year's
broken collarbone. Chris Jenks held on to finish ninth,
and I was able to pass Bryan Baker about five turns
from the finish to get the final payout position.
|
|
| #1
Bill Ballance |
#2
Chris Borich |
It is quite a relief to get the first GNCC out of
the way, and get a good idea where I stand in terms
of speed and endurance compared to the XC1 field.
The Georgia round this weekend will be a return to
a more standard GNCC track, and more than likely the
top ten finishing order will change considerably from
the Florida round. The championship race has so far
included the usual contenders and some new faces,
but the determination of Bill Ballance to secure a
unprecedented win streak will surely be hard to beat.
Look for the action to continue in Georgia, see you
there!
 |
Afternoon
Top Three Overall (left to Right)
Taylor Kiser, Bill Ballance, Chris Borich |
