The ATV racing season was fully underway. It was Round 4 of 13 to be held in the Grand National Cross Country series, last April 4th and 5th, and I couldn’t believe I was finally going to witness this most spectacular form of quad racing in the sport ATV world. I have many times wished to be among those courageous enough to attack the coveted holeshot at the many MX tracks I’ve been at up here in Canada. Here, I wouldn’t even fathom the idea of going just once around this monstrous track. I was glad to be a mere spectator of this amazing display of courage that was this grueling 3-hour race at the famed Big Buck track, where all classes, meaning hundreds of riders and race machines of many types, invade the huge track littered with just about any kind of obstacle you can think of, all at the same time!
 
Only 30 seconds separates every class start, which makes for the most spectacular race starts one can ever witness. The call to fire-up is given and the instant response to it rumbles in a thunderous mix of sweet engine sounds. One can’t help but feel the intensity as the first row of riders leans over handlebars with elbows high. This historically rich track had both very technical woods and a lot of high speed sections, which promised some spectacular racing action, all day long. Exploring the vast and beautiful landscape for good spots to catch some action is all part of the fun. From tight woods, to fields, creek crossings, rocks and hill climbs, the Big Buck race course, located in Union County South Carolina, includes all of the standard obstacles that make it worthy of holding a GNCC event. The year 1997 saw the first Big Buck Grand National Cross Country racing event here and since then, over 13,000 riders from all over the world have participated in the Big Buck GNCC events. The 2009 Pirelli Big Buck GNCC was the thirteenth such gathering of talented racers.

GNCC racing is not like your ordinary MX race where a lap takes you just over a minute and where the rider almost mechanically executes every move to conquer obstacles by memorizing the whole track. Here, a lap can be from eight to 12 miles and the track changes from lap to lap, as all racers from every class start in sequence and soon end up attacking not only motocross sections but hills, woods, mud, dirt, rocks, all together at the same time, all churning up the same track for a grueling 3-hour race. As I watched them all launch from a hugely wide line, into a funnel with only room for a few wide at the first turn, it quickly became clear that survival becomes just has much a key factor than speed in GNCC racing.
    
In round three of the 2009 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series, two weeks prior in Morganton, NC, the notorious Steele Creek mud hole, after the concrete bridge, captured more than a few riders. Even Derisi Racing's Bryan Cook had a bit of a hard time with it, but battled his way through a determined bunch of great racers to win the 2009 FMF Steele Creek GNCC. There KTM's Adam McGill, defending champion of this event, Yamaha's Bill Ballance, Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Chris Borich and Yamaha's Taylor Kiser battled wheel-to-wheel until the final lap. Yamaha's Donald Ockerman won the $250 motorcycleusa.com holeshot award and led the pack on the first lap around, until McGill caught up to him on his KTM. A high speed train of 12 riders battled hard for that podium win. Among the many hopefuls up front was Cook, close to home in North Carolina, who caught up to leader McGill in the fourth lap, mainly because lapped riders started to slow him down.

Meanwhile Bill Ballance, back after a cancer scare that had him sent to the operating room to have damaged ribs surgically removed, managed to climb up on the last spot on the podium. A tumor had cut blood supply off to a rib and caused it to decay and it broke when he had merely coughed. Emotional, he had admitted wondering if he'd ever be back on the podium again while on the third step at Steel Creek. He had struggled hard with his still precarious physical condition through the first two rounds and it was a touching experience to see this great champion achieve so much in the face of adversity and be back where he belongs, on the podium. Round two winner;  Suzuki's Chris Borich, came in fifth behind Yamaha's Taylor Kiser in fourth. Can-Am's Chris Bithell came in sixth, Honda's Duane Johnson in seventh and Yamaha's Brandon Sommers in eighth with Yamaha's Johnny Gallagher and Can-Am's Brent Sturdivant, in tenth place, rounding out the top 10.
 
The weather that Saturday morning was perfect, with lots of sunshine and good track conditions. The rumbling sounds of huge twin cylindered beasts rolled up the soft climb to the first turn and reached my ears a fraction of a second before spotting the intimidating heard of wildly pumped up utility quads, all struggling to both stay out of harm’s way and of course, pull out up front. Things were looking promising as far as catching some good action was concerned. It wasn’t long before I was clicking away at some poor dude’s spectacularly executed somersaults after hitting a kicker before the 2nd turn and losing control. The raging Renegade’s wheels were frantically spinning, throttle stuck full on, grinding chunks of soil at every bounce. I couldn’t help but worry about that rider now being chased by his own ride and anybody in the vicinity, possibly getting hurt.

Luckily, the untamed mechanical beast ended up on its side, just barely missing its rider, 27 years old Jerime Dudding, and some onlooker hit the kill Switch, before the tires could grip again. Dudding had finished 4th in the U-2 (201-840cc Utility Unlimited; no racks, Production) class and 28th overall out of the 313 entries in the morning race of the previous round at the Steele Creek GNCC, also a very tight and technical track where one little mistake on the red clay can send even the most talented riders into the trees. He stood back up with some effort, but his ride was more than done for the day with its handlebars snapped off. Can-Am’s Bryan Buckhannon of Beckley, WV, was still on his winning streak taking another first in 4X4 Open, while finishing 6th overall. The true shining stars in this AM race were three fast women who dominated the overall standings with Angel M Atwell on her KTM up front, followed by Lexie P Coulter on Can-Am and Tracy L Cecco on her Yamaha in third.

The sun was blazing in a clear blue sky as the 203 total entries including 20 XC1 Pro Riders, were set to give the fans some great racing action in the much anticipated afternoon race. Obviously feeling much better, 9-time champion Bill Ballance took the holeshot on his shiny blue Yamaha, showing other riders he was ready to win again. He kept the race lead for the first lap, but by the end of it he had Taylor Kiser pressuring him close behind. Chris Borich, Adam McGill, and Brian Cook were all following the leaders closely. On the next lap, Kiser heated up the battle with Bill Balance clearly working hard not to give up the lead, but finally losing that exciting tight battle. On lap 3 it would be Adam McGill’s turn to take over the lead, and the heated battle was now between him and Chris Borich with Bill Ballance and Brian Cook now not too far behind. Taylor Kiser, having obviously suffered some sort of incident, came around in fifth position with his right hand guard broken.

After the fourth and most grueling lap of this amazing event, Chris Borich, Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki/Yoshimura racer, took his 2nd win of the season in both XC1 and overall by only .906 of a second ahead of McGill who had just clipped a tree on the last lap. This gave Borich time to catch up and he got right on him, then passed him only about a hundred meters from the checkered flag for an intense win that would put him at the top of the points standings in the series. Up on the victory podium after the event, Borich said his Suzuki QuadRacer R450 was flawless, and pointed out his success in having good start and not making any mistakes were key in achieving this win.

Side-by-side is the newest form of vehicle to hit GNCC tracks and already they are among the fans’ favorite classes to watch in action. A total of 60 racers were ready to go out and battle among whom many had just raced on their quads like Santo DeRisi and William Yokley. After a strong start to the 2009 season, 2008 Side-by-Side Champion William Yokley, continued with his winning ways on his fabulous looking Polaris/National Guard/Yokley racing Ranger RZR and so ended the excitement filled day in celebration.
The next GNCC race was Acerbis Loretta Lynn's, two weeks later on April 18th and 19th, in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, where a national-level motocross track is included in the lap, the same famed motocross track that hosts the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships for bikes and the ATV Dirt Days and the final round of the ATVA National Motocross Championships for ATVs.

The jumps are tamed down a bit for the GNCC, though. Bill Ballance, last year’s winner of this event, was the strongest he had been since his cancer scare and rib injury. With already two DNF's this year, it didn't leave any room for mistakes but the 9 time champion of the series could very well claim another one before partly retiring. Ballance was off to a good start and came into the woods in fourth place. He got around Duane Johnson and Tyler Lenig after the first lap. It wasn't too long until Borich came up behind him and got up in front but he managed to keep him in sight. Then Chris Borich lost his chain and left Ballance and McGill running unchallenged. McGill passed Ballance when he stopped for fuel and then the reigning champ passed McGill back when it was his time to stop for fuel, to then lead the whole last lap without being challenged. Brandon Sommers caught up with Ballance at the end when they ran into some lappers, but an obviously tired Balance pushed on through to get to the finish line first.

After revisions to the results of round 6, the Weekend Warrior Titan GNCC, Taylor Kiser had his win taken away from him for having missed a short section of the course. After the race he was moved down to third place. This put Rockstar/Makita Suzuki's Chris Borich right back on top of the points standings in the series. The Pennsylvania-based rider was looking forward to racing in his home state at the Mountain Ridge GNCC in Western Pennsylvania, where he won last year. As I’m writing these words, Borich sits on top with 132 points, followed closely behind by former leaders Taylor Kiser at 126 points and Adam McGill with 125 points. Ahead of Ballance and fifth in the points is Yamaha's Brandon Sommers who has been on the podium the last two races. Balance’s sixth place finish at the Titan placed him in 6th overall in the race’s points. He proved he still had it in him by winning at Loretta Lynn's, but will need more such wins, if he wants to come back to win the title, one he said would very likely be his last as a full-time competitor.

Another tight battle is raging in the Women's class for the top spot in the points. Two Pennsylvania riders, FRE KTM's Angel Atwell and Yamaha's Traci Cecco, have been battling closely. Atwell won the first four rounds while Cecco recently won the past two rounds. But Atwell had her season worst race at the Titan, coming in seventh place. The two are tied in the race’s points, but Atwell has the advantage in wins, going into the Mountain Ridge GNCC in Somerset, PA, round seven of the series.  The Mountain Ridge track is known to be very different from other tracks and painfully demanding on both man and machine, with rocks and boulders scattered throughout the track. That’s what’s great about GNCC racing; No Challenge Is Too Tough For All These Brave Souls!