| SouthEast
Cross Country Shoot Out
Perry Mountain MC
Maplesville, AL
January 6, 2007 |
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Bill Ballance Wins South East
ATV Cross Country Shoot Out
Maplesville, AL - While some riders
are yet to pry the Indiana mud off their quads, others
made the 6, 8 or even 12 hour drives from the northern
states to take part in this event. One hundred and fifty
five quads lined up in this primarily Mid-South portion
of this event to see who had the savvy to manage these
Alabama Hills that host some major events in the motorcycle
industry including the 24 Hour event every summer. With
rain fall that had flooded the fields where the starts
to be held, it was important to get a good start or
you may be out of tear offs before you hit the hills
where most of the race was held. There were a lot of
GNCC regular faces in the field with eight of the twenty
five in the front row being class leaders of the GNCC
Series. What had the “off season” brought
to the track, and most important, who brought it?
In the Pro class Bill Ballance on his factory Yamaha
had everything in order and made the sweeping turn one
ahead of the pack with a chance to sling mud on twenty
four other racers. Bill kept the lead for the finish
of the first lap with his brother Brandon close on his
heals. Brandon Sommers and Donald Ockerman were chasing
the brothers and having quite a race of their own. GNCC
regular Bryan Cook had some quad issues and removed
himself from the race after completing one lap. Other
notable GNCC familiar names that had to deal with quad
issues that kept them off the pace were Ryan Morphew,
William Yokley. They both finished three laps but either
way the conditions of Perry Mountain had taken its toll.
As the race progressed Brandon gave up his second place
position and Brandon and Donald moved on by like a freight
train. At the close of the race Brandon Sommers and
Donald Ockerman came across the line in first and second
position but the times were later adjusted and the win
was given back to Bill Ballance. The two were re-routed
by track officials and got by Bill. All racers agreed
that the win should go to Bill and so it was. Sommers
and Ockerman did finish in the second and third positions
still only four seconds apart. Fourth place in the pro
class went to Jody Estes of Sturgis, KY while fifth
place went to Brandon Ballance.
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| #784
Brandon Sommers |
#51
Donald Ockerman |
In the Open A class Justin Wright from Henderson, KY
took the first place position followed by a tight race.
Ricky Lane finished in second place only seven seconds
ahead of Alabama rider Scotty Ratliff who was charging
hard to take the second position but fell just a bit
short. In the 40+ class Richard Stanley on his Honda
was the only rider to finish all 4 laps. In the 21-29
class there was a great battle that saw quite a few
changes during the race as the top three finishers in
this class finished a mere sixteen seconds apart. Zack
Jones took the win followed closely by Elliott Skaggs
and Phillip Wall.
30+ C was another class that had the real fight behind
the winner in the 2nd and 3rd place positions. Willis
Matkins took the win, but three minutes back Shannon
Minshey and Jimmy Neal, JR battled to the wire finishing
only ten seconds apart. There was another Ockerman that
showed up to this race and ran in the 50+ division.
Mike Ockerman finished his three laps in one hour and
forty two minutes a full minute ahead of Bill Hayden
in second position. Third place was taken by Thomas
Jenks. All of the 50+ riders were racing on Hondas.
In one of the bigger classes of the day 25-29 C class
there was one lone big sport utility quad. In a field
of 450 sport quads the big yellow Can AM of Mike Swift
sure made a lot of heads turn and take a second glance.
At the end of the race even more heads turned and jaws
dropped as Mike took the class win. Not only did he
take the win, he was the only rider in the class to
finish all four laps. Mike also managed to finish the
day 25th overall in the field of 155 riders. Second
place went to Gary Sutton of Marion, KY and third went
to Justin Houston also of KY.
Frankie Masarra took the win in the 16-20 B division.
Almost five minutes back in the second position was
Chris Biggs of Joelton, KY. One lap off the pace was
the third place finisher of Brandon Jones. Once again
the three top finishers in this class were all aboard
Hondas. Terry Smith of the 30+ A class snuck in the
win ten seconds ahead of second place finisher Tommy
Jenks. Third place went to Marshall Sugg. I know this
may seem funny, but once again the top three finishers
were on Hondas.
With only a little over 6 weeks left until the big
show of the GNCC season it is nice to see the racers
getting ready with their new quads, new gear, and new
attitudes. Hopefully there will be quite a few races
near your location to get out and practice. I will be
reporting later about a series in Florida (www.floridatrailriders.org)
that has a few more races before the kick off in Vero
Beach, FL. On the week end prior to Vero Beach there
is a race at the World Famous Gatorback Cycle Park that
many racers will use as a warm up. I have already seen
John Gallagher Sr. in Florida practicing. He said that
two of his new Polaris quads were delivered with the
awesome power of the KTM 525 motor and he can’t
wait to get on them and get some saddle time. I see
Brandon Sommers on a regular basis in Florida. Maybe
I’ll get to see some more of you practicing in
the Florida sand before the season opener. Good Luck
and see you at the races……………
www.perrymountain.com
ATVriders.com
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