The Spartan GNCC
Sparta, KY
June 10, 2006
Story and photos by Chuck Debault
Bill Ballance reminded everyone how important the holeshot is with another 1st place finish and took himself one step closer to yet another title.
Nestled among the rolling hills of Kentucky is a small area known as Sparta. Six years ago you might not be able to point this area out on a map. Now, home to the Kentucky Motor Speedway and some of the toughest GNCC racing around, the name Sparta and racing go together like peanut and butter.
Sparta has been the site for four GNCC events. Three at one site and the original just up the road. This season’s course was adjusted making it seem like a whole new location all over again. From the moment of arrival you could tell it was going to be exciting. This track had it all including elevation changes, rocks and treacherous high-speed sections. As a bonus even with an 11 mile course there were tons of great spectator areas to view from.
Youth riders are taking full advantage of the GNCC events, which offer them an opportunity to run an abridged version of the same course the Pros run.
Friday night was busy. Just looking around you could see the exciting changes taking place within. One of the most prominent things we noted was the addition of a full size semi trailer pulling the Can-Am team to the race. Their setup was the same as the Yamaha & Kawasaki rigs that the bikes use. The setup was massive in display, organized and busy. The only thing missing was autograph tables. The Can Am team appears to be taking ATV racing very serious. They were in full force at Sparta to promote utility class quad racing in the most respectful and professional manner we’ve ever seen.
Heading down pro row it was obvious that this was a popular race. Resting no more than 45 minutes from Cincinnati, Louisville and Lexington the crowd draw was amazing. Families, friends and kids were everywhere. Everyone seemed to be carrying posters and trinkets handed out by vendors.
The hills are alive with mini quads
The Racer Productions team laid out a long and challenging course for the kids to race on. The turn out was good and the weather was mild with a 30% chance of showers. As the first row start flag went one of the best spectator crowds of the season gathered. The wet grass and down hills proved a nemesis that provided some great bar banging experience for all the little racers. As the hour long race progressed the field became spread out and Walker Fowler once again stepped away with another first place position. His move to the Cobra 70 was a good one. He really proved he can ride.
Traci Cecco held the number one position soon after the start and never looked back. What a season!
Traci Cecco and morning riders break in the new course
The next race was the morning amateur event. As always row one was filled with the fastest female cross-country riders in the world. The line up featured names like Cecco, Parton, Atwell, Verkade along with new comers Albright, Fulkerson, Muzzarelli, Coulter and others. Behind them sat the hungry and aggressive Utility, C and First Year Racer classes. These racers are no slouches and the woman would need to take advantage of row one to keep the competition behind them. A couple notable items were the return of Jeff Stoess who was the overall afternoon winner two years ago. This year he was test riding the new Polaris Outlaw running in the Sportsman class. Although Stoess ended up 2nd overall the Sportsman class is not eligible for podium spots at the GNCC ATV events. Coming in behind Stoess was another experienced rider named John Rowling who now has duties that do make it possible for him to run in the afternoon. So to get some seat time and have fun Rowling also ran the Sportsman class and had to forgo his podium position. The official 2nd place spot went to C class racer, Glen Pritchard. And the 3rd place position went to Woman’s class racer Stephanie Parton who also took the holeshot. After a small bottle neck Cecco took the lead from Parton and never looked back. Her speed and agile ride style gave her the ability to finish the three lap race in 1:40:38 nearly 00:02:30 over Stoess and four minutes over the podium 2nd place position. Cecco currently holds six 1st place finishes and two 3rd place spots. She’s obviously hungry for another class and morning title.
Jeff Stoess provided proof to the crowd that he still had the racing bug and ending up with the second best finishing time in the morning.
Ballance prevails in Pro ranks
For an hour during the morning race the rain let loose and sprinkled. The weather was upgraded to a 50% chance of heavy showers and the possibility of heavy lightning. There were reports coming in from all the major cities close by that they were experiencing heavy storms and showers; but at the onset of the afternoon race the skies were holding back and the fear of a repeat of ‘Mud Fest 2004’ looked to be avoided. Mud expert, Johnny Gallagher was heard spouting “Come on rain!” as he continued on with his rain dance at the start area.
Yamaha’s Bill Ballance was playing that ‘cool concentration’ role as always, and Cook with wife Bonnie sat together quiet planning. Jeremy Rice who struggled early with sponsor support was in great spirits; “I’m ready, let’s hope for a great race!”. Chris Jenks had his normal fan club roaming around and seemed excited at another chance to race at Sparta.
Young Chris Bithell is going to be a strong force to be reckoned with. Nipping the heals of Ballance all afternoon, Bithell finish in 2nd place.
The holeshot went to Ballance with Duane Johnson 20 feet behind followed by Jenks and Bithell. Just before turn three a small tussle formed taking Santo DeRisi and others to the back of the pack. DeRisi who has been plagued with nagging issues all season fought his way back for his best finish of the season at 12th. “I’m ready for a podium. I’ve had some really back wrecks this season and am working hard to turn things around” remarked DeRisi prior to the start.
The next couple hours proved to be an epic battle between a defending champion and youthful desire. Ballance ended up with the overall win finishing four laps in 01:59:40. Bithell was nipping at Ballance’s grab bar most of the day but was unable to make any passes. He finished only two seconds behind Ballance and was excited to make another podium finish. Borich who ran into some early bad luck at Millfield rode with fantastic aggression at Sparta. In the end he took the 3rd place spot less than 40 seconds behind Bithell.
William Yokley worked hard to have a great day and things simply didn’t work out. Here he gives us the ‘I gave it my best’ signal as he comes through the finish.
In the amateur ranks some notable finishes were produced in several classes. Tyler Lenig, running Pro-Am ended up with an overall top 10 finish coming in at number 9. Open A rider Ryan Lane came in overall at number 27 and Kevin Yoho came in right behind him at number 28 representing the 4-Stroke A class. William Howell running in the Junior 25+ class came in 36 overall and ‘Mr Consistent’ Chris Earlywine (at least consistent in last place starts) proved he still has the skills coming from a dead last start to a first place finish two races in a row. He wound up 56th overall.
The final totals for this event were lower than expected, but decent overall. There were 279 morning entries with 26 DNFs. The afternoon race had 213 entries and seven DNFs. For those riders out there who enjoy tight woods and fast, full throttle racing, you missed a good one. We definitely look forward to seeing the Sparta GNCC event on the schedule for next season.
