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REM Performance Racer News |
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Photos from ATVRiders.com and RaceDayPix.com |
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GNCC Racing Series Round #5 - Loretta Lynn's
Hurricane Mills, Tennessee
Rain made for muddy conditions during the morning ATV race, but by the time the pros lined up, most of the mud had dried up
and track conditions were near perfect for the start of the race. Bill Ballance took 1st place for the first time in the 2008 season and moved up to third place in the overall standings. Ballance led the first lap around Loretta Lynn's racing facility before being passed by GNCC points leader Adam McGill on lap number two. On lap three, McGill suffered some mechanical issues and Ballance pulled back into first place. He held onto first place and finished just 4 seconds ahead of Chris Borich as they both battled it out down the stretch.
"Right now it's not even about the championship," said Ballance after logging possibly the longest burnout ever seen at a GNCC on the podium. "I just need to start getting wins and then we can focus on the championship. It was a great battle today and I'm glad to come out on top of it."
Traci Cecco had a rough outing at her favorite race track, Loretta Lynn's. She struggled with front suspension issues during the race and finished the race in 7th place. Cecco holds a slim 3-point margin over Angela Atwel in the overall Women's Division standings.
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GNCC Racing Series Round #4 - Big Buck
Union, South Carolina
Rounding out the top 5 in the Pro ATV race was 8-time GNCC champion Bill Ballance. Ballance would find himself working from
mid pack at the start, scoring 13th at the end of the first lap. Working through the XC1 field, and dealing with bottlenecks had the champ using all the tricks in his bag to get himself inside the top 10 as the next two laps were completed. When the last lap was complete, Ballance slid into the finish as he bumped tires with Borich for the 5th spot. Coming from behind is not easy, however, Ballance rode smart and did what he needed to as he secured another solid finish.
The top three ladies, Cecco, Atwell and Coulter, spent the opening half of the four-lap women's event swapping positions in an exciting race. Cecco managed an excellent pit stop that launched her into first for the majority of the race, although she and Atwell
were running almost identical lap times. With only a half lap remaining, the mud got the best of Traci as she got stuck in a mud hole which allowed Atwell to pass her for the win. With two first place finishes and two second place finishes, Traci Cecco finds herself at the top of the standings in the women's championship division.
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March 29, 2008
GNCC Racing Series Round #3 - Steele Creek
Morganton, North Carolina
Ballance rebounded from a rare DNF at the previous GNCC in Georgia to take 2nd place at Steele Creek. "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."
In the morning race, run under difficult, rainy conditions, Stephanie Patron took the
holeshot but Traci Cecco claimed the lead on the first lap. With the slick, wet mud
causing issues for a lot of racers, the overall leader Benson took a spill at the end of the race and Cecco took full advantage. She passed up Benson and Traci Cecco captured the overall and the women's class win once again on her factory YFZ450.
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March 8, 2008
GNCC Racing Series Round #2 - The General
Washington, Georgia
GNCC Champion Bill Ballance failed to finish due to mechanic troubles. Ballance ran into electrical problems in his first-ever DNF in four years on a Yamaha.
In the morning race, defending GNCC Women's Champion Traci Cecco took an early lead with a comfortable 32-second advantage over Angel Atwell. On lap two, the lead riders bunched up while encountering slower traffic and Atwell and Lexie Coulter sped through the bottleneck faster than Cecco, pushing Traci back to third place. Traci stayed calm under the pressure and rode her way back to second place. After a great fight with Atwell, Cecco took the lead back as she and Atwell passed a slower rider on the final lap. After passing the traffic, it was all Traci down the final stretch and across the finish line.
“It was a tough race, mentally and physically,” she admitted later. “Also very cold – my hands were frozen and it was hailing on the starting line!”
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March 2, 2008
GNCC Racing Series Round #1 - The Triton
Melbourne, Florida
After spending some time in the off-season riding with REM Performance owner, Ray Martinez, Traci Cecco and Bill Balance were looking forward to getting the 2008 GNCC Racing season under way.
Bill Balance led off the 2008 season with another holeshot win. After leading the first lap, he took a pretty good spill on lap
two. Ballance struck a palmetto tree at high speed, crashing hard and getting the wind knocked out of him. He was able to get back up, re-start his YFZ450 and re-entered the fray down in sixth place. He then charged back up to third to maintain his amazing string of podium finishes that includes every race last year.
“I was trying to reserve some energy, but I think I was in reserve too long,” said Ballance. “Down here in Florida it’s always hard to guess how much to reserve, because it’s such tough terrain. I was running in second or third place, and I had a pretty good crash. I was laying on my back and had the wind knocked out of me. So I had to just start pushing as hard as I could and I was able to get this Yamaha up here on the podium.”
Traci Cecco also led off the 2008 season with a holeshot win. She started strongly in the six-lap morning Women’s race, powering her YFZ450 ahead of the pack when early leader Lexie Coulter faltered. However, after three laps, she clipped a slower rider which sent her quad flipping and herself careening over the bars in the process. Reportedly, during the crash, Traci's battery cable broke and she was temporarily unable to re-start her Yamaha. Luckily, after a push from a utility rider, she got her quad back on track and rejoined the race in second place behind Angel Atwell. In spite of an excellent effort, Cecco could not close the gap in the remaining laps. Amazingly, despite her crash, Cecco finished the two-hour long race less than 90 seconds behind Atwell.
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