| GNCC
ATV Racing
Round 9 "Mountain Ridge" |
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Mountain Top View |
Somerset, PA -East Coast ATV’s
Chris Borich and Yamaha’s Bill Ballance
may try to keep the pressure off during their
closest title fight ever, but they can’t
hide much longer. Borich nailed a big overall
win at the GEICO Mountain Ridge round of the Can-Am
Grand National Cross Country Series, and his emotions
on the podium made it clear that this title means
the world to him.
“What a race,” said Borich. “Some
people think I haven’t been training over
the break; but guess what? I have been. I got
the point’s lead now, and I’m just
going to come out here and do the best I can
and hopefully win the rest of them and grab
me a championship. I need one.”
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Chris
Borich smoked his Maxxis Tires on the
Podium making sure everyone knew that
he was going for the #1 Plate |
Borich answered any doubts about how hard he
worked over the summer, fighting hard for the
win in an early battle with Ballance and Adam
McGill, and then surviving an unbelievable charge
down the stretch from LTERacing.com’s
Chris Bithell. Ballance struggled with some
equipment issues and persevered for third, McGill
had a big crash that knocked him to fourth,
and Bithell simply ran out of steam after charging
so hard all day.
Bithell, 19, came from last place all the way
back to lead the race, before finishing second.
“Off the start, someone just got up underneath
me from behind and I went off the bike, just
like usual,” said Bithell. “I rode
my butt off the first couple laps, being stupid
through the dust, passing four guys at a time
through dust sections. I really wanted to win
and I knew I had to catch these guys.”
Ballance was struggling to keep pace. “I
don’t know how I ended up in third,”
said Ballance. “I just had a bad, bad
day. I caught a big rock on the first lap, I
think it bent a shaft in the shock and I think
all the oil’s out of it now. One of the
front shocks is messed up pretty bad. We were
having some problems out there in the water,
that’s the first time that’s ever
happened. Hey, I got third. I don’t know
how, it seems like we were just barely going
around the track, but it’s what I needed
to hopefully move onto the championship after
all this.”
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| #1
Bill Ballance |
#7
Adam McGill |
Fun-loving West Virginia native McGill was
in the hunt, too, following Borich after the
start and making moves for the lead midway through.
“I followed him and watched his lines,
the second lap is where I started making my
passes,” said McGill. “I know I
have the speed now. I just want to win one so
bad, so bad you just wouldn’t believe
it.”
McGill took the lead from Borich but tagged
a lapper, sending him flying over the bars.
He landed on the trail and Borich nearly ran
him over. “I just about ran him over,”
said Borich. “So I had to back up and
take off and that’s when Chris got the
lead, and Bill went by and I was right behind
him. I just pushed and pushed and caught back
up to Chris and we pretty much checked out.
We had an awesome battle out there.”
