Big Buck GNCC, Union, SC 2004
- Updated: April 4, 2004
What does it feel like to have the pressure to back up that big number one target? It must not be that bad, because Bill Ballance seems to keep winning races.
Big Buck GNCC
Cross Anchor, SC
April 4, 2004
By Bonnie Hamrick
No one could have ordered more perfect weather, mid seventies with a little wind. The only downfall of the day would be the dust. After two days of down pours during the week, no one expected there to be a dust issue, but as the morning race progressed, the dust became thicker and higher as the quads dug down and found the dry soil. That was okay, because today would be another day of testing speed and endurance – GNCC style. Who was the crowd favorite today? Of course, the number one plate holder, Bill Ballance was the man to beat. With three wins in a row, he was unstoppable, or was he? No new machines were spotted across pro pits, so maybe the riders were finally happy with their equipment and ready to race.
Lining up first on pro line was Bill Ballance aboard the Troy Yamaha number one machine. Still holding onto second overall in the points was William Yokley, looking for another podium finish to keep his consistency flowing. Third was Chris Borich, aboard the number two East Coast ATV. Although Borich was yet to obtain a podium finish, his consistency in finishing top five was keeping him in the top three overall. Also looking to put in a great ride at round five of the GNCC Series was Chad Duvall, who finally struck up some good luck at the last few races and was confident that he could hold onto it for the rest of the year. Matt Smiley, with Team Safari looked to put last year’s bad luck behind him and put his Yamaha out front today.
Matt Smiley was right where he wanted to be when the green flag flew. Kim Kuhnle #22, veteran Pro rider, hammers on his Polaris and got a great start.
Green Flag Action….
When the green flag went into the air, Matt Smiley took the holeshot with Chad Duvall rounding the inside for second and Kim Kuhnle aboard the Polaris taking third. Bill Ballance’s machine didn’t fire as quick as he had hoped, putting him fighting in the middle of the pack. “Update Update, from the five mile marker: Duvall is out front, Smiley in second, followed by Chris Borich, Greg Trew, and Bill Ballance. A few seconds back is William Yokley.”
At the end of lap one, Smiley held onto a close lead with the pack of pro riders all on his rear tires. Duvall still held onto second, Borich in third, Trew in fourth, Ballance in fifth, Santo DeRisi moving up to sixth, Yokley in seventh, and Mike Houston in eighth. Just seconds separated them as they crossed through the pro pits heading to the scoring area. Mike Houston, last year’s top ten finisher in the Pro Production Class, was putting in his best ride of the season so far. Forty-five seconds back in ninth was Bryan Cook with ATV Scene.com’s own Johnny Gallagher holding onto tenth.
Big Bad Chad Duvall battled with Chris Borich for a long time. In the end, Duvall put a stop to his bad luck this year and finished in the final spot on the podium.
In the Pro Am Class, Jeremy Rice was out front holding off James Wahl by less than ten seconds with Jason Lewis and Rick Cecco less than thirty seconds apart for third and fourth. “Update Update at the four and a half mile marker – Smiley, Duvall, Trew, Borich, Ballance. There are bottlenecks everywhere out here in the woods! Update from the six: Smiley out front with Trew taking over second. Duvall in third with Ballance moving up to fourth, and Borich still in fifth, seconds apart from one another. The battle for sixth is Yokley and Houston,” said the announcer.
On the second lap, coming into the pits, Smiley was out front with Borich in second, Trew dropping back to third, Ballance holding onto fourth and Duvall back to fifth, all wheel to wheel action. Smiley, Borich, and Ballance pulled into their pits for gas, letting Trew take the second lap completed with the lead over Smiley and Duvall in third. Ballance crossed the scoring area in fourth with Borich seconds back for fifth. Seven seconds back was Houston aboard the Honda 450 in sixth. Yokley was less than thirty seconds back for seventh. Fifteen seconds back from Yokley was DeRisi in eighth with Cook thirty seconds back in ninth. Over a minute back was Brandon Ballance in tenth. Rice, in the Pro Am Class had pulled nearly a minute lead over Wahl, putting Rice in ninth overall. Chris Jenks moved into third, from seventh, just thirty seconds back from Wahl, holding off Jathan Seale and Scott Dailey.
The race was close as Greg Trew (leading) and Santo DeRisi battled it out all the way to the checkered flag.
“Update from the three mile mark: Smiley is back out front of Trew. The rest of the pack is still right on each other with Duvall, Ballance, Borich, and Houston.”
Houston later moved up to fifth, passing Borich in the woods.
Lapped traffic started to be an issue as always. Ballance worked his way through the pack aggressively.
At the eighth mile of racing Ballance battled hard with Smiley. The two pulled about seven seconds over Trew and Duvall who were neck to neck as well.
Coming in for the third lap, (getting the two lap remaining card), Smiley was out front with Ballance trying to get around in second. Third, Duvall, was thirteen seconds back after making a pit stop. Trew and Borich were right together, but Borich was able to move into third since he pitted on the lap before. Forty-five seconds back is Houston in sixth with Yokley holding onto seventh, less than thirty seconds back, fighting a loose suspension problem. Right on Yokley’s ITP tires for eighth was DeRisi. Forty seconds back in ninth was still Cook, racing all alone with Rice from Pro Am in ninth overall. Rice stretched his lead to over a minute in front of Wahl. In third was Seale, forty seconds back, with Dailey twenty seconds back for fourth, holding off Jenks.
Yokley began to drop back. Ballance and Smiley continued to battle back and forth. Duvall was back in third with Borich, Trew, Houston, and Yokley still together.
On the white flag, Ballance and Smiley had checked out from third. Forty-five seconds back was Duvall and Borich in a wheel to wheel battle of their own. In fifth, nearly two minutes back was Trew with DeRisi still able to see his dust. Twenty seconds back was Houston holding off Yokley battling for seventh. Ninth place was still Cook, less than a minute back with Brandon Ballance just over a minute back for tenth. Moving his way up into the top seven overall was Rice from Pro Am, stretching his lead over Wahl to two minutes- fifteen seconds. In third, thirty seconds back was Seale and Jenks kicking up dust.
“Update Update: LAPPERS are everywhere! Ballance and Smiley are passing one another in every field section, bumping all the way around the course. DeRisi has put the pass on Trew at the five and a half mark and he’s not looking back.”
Checkered Flag
Bill Ballance took his fourth checkered flag aboard his Troy Yamaha. As he rode up the podium he did a burn out with his Maxxis tires. The crowd yelled as the thick smoke encircled them all. Less than five seconds back was Team Safari’s Matt Smiley taking second aboard his number five Yamaha, still smiling after his defeat. These two had pulled away from the rest of the race field. Having time to clean off their faces and smile for the fans before the battle for third crossed the finish line thirty seconds apart. Duvall, aboard the Am Pro Yamaha made the podium a complete Yamaha set.
“I got the worst start ever. Everyone had jumped the hump on the starting line before I even got mine started. I was way back. I worked hard and my Custom Axis suspension worked great out there, helping me get up to the front. I battled these last two laps with Smiley back and forth and we just put on a great race,” Ballance said with the burn out smoke still lingering over the podium. The crowd was yelling as he raised up his hands and thanked his sponsors: Troy Racing, Custom Axis, Maxxis, ArsFx, Moose, Douglas Wheels, Smith, Regina Chains, Rebel Gears, GT Thunder, HMF, DP Brakes, Carb Parts Warehouse, Power Madd, Pro Armor, IMS, Klotz, tireballs, WER, and the rest.
Matt Smiley put up an incredible race, but loosing brakes put a damper on his spirits as he felt Ballance slipping away on the last lap. Smiley was still happy to be up on the podium, hoping his luck would change for the better in 2004. His sponsors are: Team Safari, Maxxis, Big Gun, Moose, Custom Axis, Shoei, ArsFx, HiPer Wheels, Pro Armor, IMS, GPR, and more.
Chad Duvall was right where he needed to be at the right time as he took third overall after battling with Borich on the last lap. “I am happy putting my Am Pro Yamaha up here. My team has worked a lot to get things ready and all my sponsors have really helped me out so far this year. I still want that overall spot though and I’m going after it this year,” Duvall said up on the podium after thanking sponsors; Duncan Racing, IMS, Elka, ITP, RK Chain, GPR, Motion Pro, and Hinson.
In fifth overall, two minutes back from Borich was Trew and DeRisi right together. Yokley came in for seventh overall less than thirty seconds back, but battled with new suspension set ups that cost him a productive race. Over a minute later, Houston took eighth overall with Cook thirty seconds back for ninth overall. Both of these riders from North Carolina are on a mission this season to put their names up high on the results page. Watch out for both these men to make a big impact on this year’s pro line.
No wonder he is the crowd pleaser! They went wild when Ballance burned out on the podium.
With Jeremy Rice missing on the last lap, Jenks (pictured) was able to cross the finishline first, taking a top twenty overall finish. Rice, however leads Jenks by four points in the Pro Am point’s batlle.
In tenth overall was Jenks from the Pro Am Class. No word came in about Rice, but riders stated they saw him sitting along side of the track, with broke equipment. Rice was riding his Honda hard to take a good overall finish, but after suffering bad luck, was forced to finish a lap down from the rest of the class.
In eleventh overall was Wahl, second in the Pro Am Class, just seconds behind Jenks. Brandon Ballance took twelfth overall, which was not where he hoped to put himself, here at round five. Look for a better ride from Ballance at Loretta Lynn’s Dude Ranch in two weeks. Seale took thirteenth overall over Dailey in fourteenth as they finished third and fourth from Pro Am. Duane Johnson took another 4 Stroke A Class win, taking eighteenth overall.
