Steele Creek GNCC, Morganton, NC 2007
- Updated: March 24, 2007
Story by Jason Weigandt
Photos by David Scearce
The Killer B’s battled it out again, but this time East Coast ATV’s Chris Borich came out on top over Yamaha’s Bill Ballance at the FMF Steele Creek GNCC. The win served notice that the chase for the 2007 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Title wont be easy.
“We had a good battle out there,” said Borich. “I got the holeshot, and I felt good. I hit a tree and ended up getting stuck in some mud. I had to change my gloves, and I fell pretty far behind Bill. Then Cook and Bithell caught up, and we hooked up and started charging. We were cranking through the woods. Right before the last lap, I got around Bill in a field. I held it for the whole last lap.”
“Well, it’s one of those things where sometimes it’s harder to hang onto the lead than it is to stay in second,” said Ballance. “When you’re out front, you can try to build up a good gap, but the lappers are going to slow you down. You have to work a lot harder because they don’t know you’re coming when you’re in the lead. I had built up about 15 seconds or so on them, but I didn’t think it would be enough.”
Cook logged his best ride of the year on his Excel Motorsports/DeRisi/Pirelli machine to grab third, and Bithell came in right after on his LTERacing.com Honda. Fifth went to Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s William Yokley, who had to overcome another poor start.
After bad starts in the first two races, Borich rectified the problem by nailing the ITP Holeshot on his Honda. “We figured out we had a problem with the head,” said Borich. “The valves didn’t seal all the way, so we got a new head from Curtis Sparks, and it starts right up. I also think I was down on power before. Now I’ve got everything working good.”
The XC2 Pro Am class, amazingly, delivered the same three podium finishers in the same order of the first two GNCC rounds. GT Thunder/Yamaha’s Brandon Sommers led Ryan Lane and Don Ockerman across the line for his third-straight win.
In the two-hour GNCC morning race, Yamaha’s Traci Cecco captured yet another overall win, with Polaris riders Stephanie Parton (Womens Class) and John Gallagher (Super Senior) in second and third. U2 class rider Mike Benson was fourth overall and top Utility rider on his Four-Stroke Tech KFX700. Can-Am’s Michael Swift won the 4×4 Limited class, Can-Am’s Scott Kilby won the 4×4 Open class, and Honda privateer David Reese won the 4×4 Lites class.
The Can-Am GNCC Series continues in two weeks with the Pirelli Big Buck GNCC in Union, South Carolina. For more information, check out gnccracing.com.
XC1 Pro
1. Chris Borich (Hon)
2. Bill Ballance (Yam)
3. Bryan Cook (Hon)
4. Chris Bithell (Hon)
5. William Yokley (Kaw)
6. Taylor Kiser (Yam)
7. Matt Smiley (Hon)
8. Adam McGill (Hon)
9. Chris Jenks (Hon)
10. Duane Johnson (Hon)
XC2 Pro Am
1. Brandon Sommers (Yam)
2. Ryan Lane (Hon)
3. Don Ockerman (Hon)
2007 Can-Am GNCC Overall Series Standings
1. Bill Ballance 85/2 wins
2. Chris Borich 80/1 win
3. Taylor Kiser 54
4. Chris Bithell 52
5. William Yokley 47
6. Bryan Cook 44
7. Brandon Sommers 42
8. Chris Jenks 34
9. Brandon Ballance 30
10. Matt Smiley 28
