Steele Creek GNCC, Morganton, NC 2008
- Updated: March 29, 2008
FRE KTM’s Adam McGill is on fire in the Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series. The West Union, West Vriginia-based rider took his KTM 525XC to his second-straight overall win with another dominant run, leading a muddy FMF Steele Creek GNCC from wire-to-wire.
“You definitely want the holeshot,” said McGill, who grabbed the $100 ITP Holeshot award. “This is one of the places where I would rather follow someone on the first lap, but you know, when you put your helmet on, all of sudden you just want to pull the lead. The only place I knew I would have trouble was one hill climb when there were two ways to go. Some fans pointed out a good line, I hit it wide open and got up to the top. I’m happy I have the points lead. In South Carolina, I’m hoping to pull off another one like I did here.”
Yamaha’s Bill Ballance took second with Team National Guard’s William Yokley third on a Honda. Safari Motorsports’ Matt Smiley and GT Thunder Yamaha’s Brandon Sommers rounded out the top five overall.
Ballance rebounded from a rare DNF at the previous GNCC in Georgia. “I wanted to get out and win today, but Adam got out front, and I got some arm pump,” said Ballance. “Smiley and Yokley, we had a good battle there, but I got through a bottle neck and was able to get some seperation. I loosened up quite a bit on the last couple of laps. I saw a pit board where Adam was a minute ahead, so I was hoping he would get hung up like we did, but I never did catch him.”
Yokley took his first podium since 2006 with third. “I’ve been having some bad luck, but you know…it happens, that’s all I can say,” said Yokley. “I have a real simple machine this year so I knew I would be up there. I was just trying to be safe on the first couple of laps, because that’s what has hurt me at the last few races. I was just being smooth. Bill and I had a good battle, he picked a good line over there and got around me, but I’m happy to get third place.”
Sommers was able to edge out Rockstar/Yoshimura Suzuki’s Chris Borich for fifth. Borich, the winner of the series’ opener in Florida, spent most of the race trying to recover from a bad start.
Dry weather in North Carolina leading up to the race had many riders fearing dust, but rain came on Friday night and stayed through most of the day on Saturday. The track ended up slick, even though the ATVs sling a lot of the mud off of the top layer of the course.
Don Ockerman took the XC2 class on his GT Thunder Yamaha. Brian Wolfe challenged Ockerman for most of the day, with Tyler Lening in third. Ockerman collected the Rekluse XC2 Holeshot award, partly because he uses Rekluse clutches in his machine.” I want to thank Rekluse, the clutches give you perfect power and traction, and now they gave me a little bit of money!” said Ockerman. “I caught up with some pros I could run with and that helped me pull away. But Bryan was right there with me with two laps to go, so I let it have it. I never looked back.”
In the morning race, run under difficult, rainy conditions, Yamaha’s Traci Cecco captured the overall and the Women’s class win once again on her factory YFZ450. U2 class rider Michael Benson scored the top overall utility finish with second overall on his Kawasaki KFX700. The veteran actually led the race overall until a crash on the last lap. Michael Swift took a Can-Am Outlander 800 to the 4×4 Limited win and third overall.
The 2008 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series continues with the Pirelli Big Buck GNCC in Union, South Carolina on April 12 and 13. The Big Buck will also debut GNCC UTV/Side-by-Side racing on Saturday. For more information, including complete results, check out www.gnccracing.com.
Results:
FMF Steele Creek GNCC
Morganton, N.C.
March 29, 2008
Overall
1. Adam McGill (KTM) West Union, WV
2. Bill Ballance (Yam) Smith’s Grove, KY
3. William Yokley (Hon) Tompkinsville, KY
4. Matt Smiley (Hon) Kunkletown, PA
5. Brandon Sommers (Yam) Millersburg, OH
6. Chris Borich (Suz) Sunbury, PA
7. Taylor Kiser (KTM) Alva, FL
8. Don Ockerman (Yam) Marshall, IL
9. Johnny Gallagher (Yam) Aurora, OH
10. Jarrod McClure (Hon) Kaska, PA
GNCC XC1 Point Standings (After 3 of 13 rounds)
1. Adam McGill (76/2 wins)
2. Taylor Kiser (57)
3. Brandon Sommers (52)
4. Bryan Cook (14)
5. Bill Ballance (46)
5. Matt Smiley (46)
7. Chris Borich (45/1 win)
8. William Yokley (45)
9. Jarrod McClure (38)
10. Ryan Lane (34)
