The first lap was an eye-opener, with a number of
tight, choppy downhill ravine runs and nasty kickers
all over the place. I was following Matt Smiley and
Santo DeRisi near the end of lap one, when I looked
over suddenly and saw Santo's quad rolling down in
a ditch with what looked like his helmet sticking
out from under his rear tire! The next lap I came
around to that spot and saw a kicker there that blended
in with the shade and knew that it was likely the
cause of many feet-over-the-head experiences that
had riders stopping by the pits to clean out their
Under Armor. The track had some great off-camber sections
like I haven't seen in a while. You can tell the good
off-cambers when you see all the bark stripped off
the trees on the downside of the trail as your buttocks
are grinding your rear fenders into the tires using
more body English than Minnesota Fats pulling a double
bank rail shot around the eight ball at the MGM Grand.
The hill climbs offered me some anxious moments; with
roots, trees, and lapped riders splayed all over them
while I zigzagged from line to line with my rear tires
spinning furiously the whole way.
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The battle out front remains between #1 Bill
Ballance and #2 Chris Borich as these two shadow
each other around the track with Bill maintaining
the lead when it counted the most at the checkered
flag for the first two rounds, but it was Chris
Borich's turn at Steele Creek as he claims his
first win of the season.
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Borich and Ballance were lapping with identical times,
swapping the lead as Bryan Cook followed at a safe
distance waiting to capitalize on a mistake by either
or both of them. Adam McGill faded some as Chris Bithell
moved into the fourth position. Chris finished on
the podium at Steele Creek last year and was looking
to do a repeat performance. Taylor Kiser, this year's
top rookie so far, was riding a steady race and moved
into the top five by the third lap. As the fourth
and final lap wound down, it was Borich, Balance,
and Cook only seconds apart. The three had separated
themselves from the pack, and crossed the finish line
in that order a full minute and a half ahead of a
fading Chris Bithell. Yokley's charge from the back
of the pack took him up to fifth at the finish, ahead
of Taylor Kiser. Matt Smiley also moved forward throughout
the race, and finished a solid seventh. Adam McGill,
Chris Jenks and Duane Johnson rounded out the top
ten.
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#14 Bryan Cook has finished consistently in
the top 10 to kick off the season, and he went
all out at Steele Creek with a Podium finish
at his hometown track |
#19
Matt Smiley has been on the move, and he continues
to improve with each passing round and secures
another seventh overall finish on the Honda |
The series picks up again in a few weeks at the Big
Buck GNCC in Union, South Carolina. Look for the championship
battle continue, with a possible upset from one of
the local Carolina crew consisting of last year's
winner Mike Houston, and a rejuvenated Bryan Cook.
See you there!
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Afternoon
Top Three Overall (left to Right)
Bill Ballance, Chris Borich, Bryan Cook |
