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GNCC
ATV Racing
Round 13 - "Ironman" |
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8x GNCC Pro ATVChampion
#1 Bill Ballance
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Crawfordsville, IN - It's all
over for 2007, and the history books must now
be re-written. Bill Ballance is the all-time King
of Quads in the Can-Am Grand National Cross Country
Series. The Yamaha rider went out and won the
season-finale Kloz Ironman GNCC to make sure the
championship was his, and now he has won the GNCC
crown for the eighth-straight time, an all-time
record.
"It hasn't even hardly sunk in yet,"
said Ballance, clearly getting emotional on
the podium. "When I first started this
years ago, I was just hoping to be a top ten
rider. To win eight in a row, I can't even believe
it. I'm just so happy, we weren't even trying
to win this one, we were trying to take it easy
and make sure we didn't have problems with the
bike, and things started happening and we ended
up in the lead."
Ballance's rival Chris Borich looked like he
could win the Ironman, although Ballance still
would have only needed to finish 12th to win
the crown anyway. Borich took the ITP Holeshot
Award and battled with Ballance most of the
day, but he ran into trouble on the muddy, rugged
track with two laps to go and dropped to fifth.
Ballance then led Matt Smiley and Adam McGill,
and then McGill put on a big charge on the last
lap to pass Smiley and go after Ballance. He
almost pulled it off and passed Ballance in
the final mile, but Ballance managed to stop
him and get the win--and the title, of course.
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Bill Ballance & Chris Borich swapped
the lead back and forth several times
for the first 3 lap when borich ran into
problem on a hillclimb, which allowed
Ballance to run away with the Win &
Championship |
Bill's
Mechanic, Elliot Skaggs, leaped for joy
when Bill crossed the finish line with
Bill’s entire family waiting to
congratulate the eighth straight GNCC
Pro ATV Champion. |
McGill was second and Smiley third.
It was a banner day altogether for Yamaha,
who not only celebrated Ballance's eighth crown,
but also won the overall in the morning race
with Traci Cecco, who started in the fourth
row in the Women's class but still managed to
win the race--and fitting end to a championship
season. Also, Brandon Sommers won the XC2 title
this year and raced the XC1 class, and nearly
made the podium overall, staying right with
the leaders for most of the race.
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Traci Cecco wrapped up her 6th Championship
at Yadkinville, but that didn't slow her
down at the Ironman as she went for the
Overall Win starting on the 4th Row behind
the Utilities |
Yamaha
presented Traci Cecco with a special Championship
plague to commemorate her six championships,
and she will be back again in 2008 with
Yamaha going for number 7 |
Cecco was followed by a pair of happy class
winners in the morning race, as Scott Kilby
won the Open 4x4 class and Mike Benson took
U2.
Also, the UTVs had their way with the Ironman
track and it was one of the funnest races the
series had ever seen, with about 30 machines
(and 30 passengers) battling through mud, water,
hills and rocks. It was very fun to watch--there's
a good chance you'll see more of these races
in the future.
But the future, the present and the past belongs
to Ballance. "We got so many fast guys
out there riding these days, and factory support
and everything is coming, everyone is taking
it so seriously now, and spending so much time
riding and training. Things like bike setup
are a lot closer than they used to be."
Close, but once again not quite enough to knock
off the King of Quads.
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The crowd was one of the largest ever
for a GNCC with thousands of spectators
filling the pits and surrounding the Podium
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Over 1550 riders competed at the Klotz Ironman
GNCC throughout the weekend, at an event that
included demo rides from Can-Am, Yamaha and
Polaris, helicopter rides available to fans,
and a full-assortment of 2008 machines on display,
as well as raffles and give aways.
