| GNCC
ATV Racing
Round 6 "John Penton" |
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| GNCC Round 5 Winner,
Chris Borich |
Millfield, OH - It just keeps rolling
for East Coast ATV's Chris Borich. The Sunbury, PA native
took his fourth-straight Can-Am Grand National Cross
Country win at the Wiseco John Penton GNCC in Ohio,
making this the most serious threat ever for defending
GNCC Champion Bill Ballance. Borich's win was convincing,
as Ballance led early but ran into clutch problems that
ultimately dropped him back to third place on his factory
Yamaha, with local crowd favorite Chris Jenks notching
his first podium of the year with second place on his
Houser/GT Thunder Honda.
Ballance, who is going for a record-breaking eighth-straight
GNCC ATV title looked strong when he started the season
with two victories, but his luck has turned sour since.
He grabbed the ITP Holeshot this time and led the
first lap, while Borich started off mid pack. But
soon he was on a charge.
"I didn't expect the start to be that muddy,
but they watered it. I didn't put any tear offs on
my goggles, so I had some problems trying to see on
the first lap," said Borich. "Then we pitted
for new goggles, and I felt real good and put on a
charge. I caught up to Chris (Jenks), got around him
and battled for a bit, got to Bill and got around
him, and that's how I won."
After Ballance checked out on the first lap while
Borich pitted, it looked like the veteran from Kentucky
would roll to a dominant win. But it wasn't to be.
"It went pretty bad," said Ballance. "I
was out there cruising on the first lap. By the second
lap I could tell the motor wasn't pulling right, and
after awhile I knew the clutches were slipping. That's
the first clutch I've ever, ever had go bad on my
Yamaha. So it was just one of those freak things.
By the last couple laps it was just barely pulling,
and I knew those guys back there were catching me.
I thought about pulling in and changing it, but I
thought by the time I did that I'd be back to maybe
seventh or eighth place, and as close as this championship
is going to be this year, anything worse than a top
five and you're pretty much out of the picture. I
was hoping if it would keep pulling we would get on
the podium today, and it did, so we made it up here.
But it's time to start winning races."
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In
the XC1 Pro Class Start Bill Ballance grabs
the ITP Holeshot |
Borich's win gives him a 14-point edge over Ballance
in the series with six of 13 rounds complete. Jenks
became the first rider besides them to finish in the
top two this year, as he rode smart all day and picked
off Ballance late in the race. After a frustrating
season, Jenks, who won this race in 2006, was relieved
to finally get back on top.
"I just want to apologize to everybody for
not getting it done," said Jenks. "Things
started to go our way in the last few races. It didn't
work out, but I knew I could do it today. If you get
a decent start, to me that's the name of the game.
You don't have to push so hard and ride over your
head. I'm still just trying to figure out this '07
Honda, trying to get it to fire. When I come from
the back, I'm taking chances trying to catch them,
and then I have some crashes. Hopefully those days
are over."
XC1 Pro class rookie Taylor Kiser put in another
consistent finish with fourth, while Adam McGill put
in his best charge of the season by coming from behind
for fifth. Veteran Matt Smiley was sixth.
Brandon Sommers took seventh and won his sixth straight
race in the XC2 Pro Am class, giving him a perfect
season so far on his GT Thunder Yamaha. "We got
a pretty good start today, and in the woods I passed
for the lead," said Sommers. "Ryan (Lane)
got back around me, and he was riding pretty good.
Second lap we hit a bottle neck and I went pretty
far back. I had to put my head down and make my way
to the front. It makes the race go a lot faster, and
you don't notice all the pain you're in."
