Meat Posted October 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Text by Jenn Sheppard and Jason Weigandt Photos by Jason Hooper Ballance Wins ITP Power Line Park GNCC in Ohio St. Clairsville, OH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelbanshee2 Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 Meat, Im curious what your opinion is on the whole course cutting/penalty controversy. I know you are somewhat close to the Borich camp. Alot of people seem to be rabid mad about it, the crap slinging is getting pretty bad over on atvriders from both sides.. I saw the video today, and it seems obvious his cut changed the outcome of the race, whether intetional or not. The penatly is consistent with past instances, and im pretty sure the same thing happened to ballance at least once in years past...thats my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meat Posted October 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 I don't think Natalie was workin' for Borich. I think that Chris walked the track... and he knew the course well enough to know NOT to take the line he did. I was dissapointed when I saw the video evidence, but I can also see makin' a split second desicision and it looks like he did that and that was a wrong desicision. Lets just hope Ballances' Yamaha konks out on him at the Ironman, its Chris' only hope. Ballance has to place 17th or lower for Chris to take the championship this year. It can happen.... just look at the race before this last GNCC where Chris blew out his rear shock and finished 17th. Fingers are crossed. I'll be glued to the computer come race day for the Ironman GNCC. I think Pappy said it best... "chris made a mistake no matter how you look at it, he shouldnt be run in the mud for it. he was penalized and we move onto the next round. ballance caught a huge break, thats racing. we move onto the next round" Here's the video clip... http://www.gnccracing.com/images/quickfill...2018/borich.mov And here's the 23 page controversy over at ATVRiders.com... http://www.exriders.com/vbb/showthread.php...threadid=319844 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelbanshee2 Posted October 20, 2007 Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 I dont buy into natalie blocking at all either, he wouldnt pull that kinda crap. That thread on atvriders was pretty out of control. Im sure alot of people had to choke on their words when the video was released. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meat Posted October 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 Natalie and Borich are REEEEEALY good freinds, they pit together when John races GNCCs and he uses one of Chris' spare 450rs' when hes' XC racing. They have been teamed up for the 12hr race for the past three years. Natalie lives close by too, Chris lives 5 minutes away from me, but Natalie's home is only an hour away from my\Chris' house, so Natalie is always up here practicin with the Borichs'. Natalie is 100% good for the sport of ATV racing, he's VERY approacable and will talk to anyone, with no signs of arrogance. When Chris and John won the 12 hr race last November in Texas, John was on the podium being interviewed and he said something along the lines of "where's the GNCC champ, why aint he out here racing the 12hr race" and then he proceeded to challenge Bill Ballance to show up to the next 12hr race. Of course Ballance won't be there this year again, he had a team for a few years and placed 2nd behind Borich\Natalie everytime. So Bill quit racing the 12 hr races. So what I'm getting at is.... Borich\Natalie are very good freinds and they both publically dislike Bill Ballance alot. When Natalie accidently cut the course and got ahead of Bill, well.... thats when the bullshit started about John tryin to purposly slow down Ballance. From Ballances viewpoint it mighta seemed like it was a planned move, but I would be willing to bet everything that there was no malicious attempt from Natalie\Borich. I'v raced a XC race in extreme dusty conditions, the woods looked like they were on fire, the visibility was zero, you could only faintly make out the red of the tail light of the guy in front of you, and if the racer in front of you was 20 feet ahead of you, you couldnt see his tail light or even know there was a quad in front of you, its a really strange feeling when your racing in a dust race, you can't tell if the track is going to turn right or left, so you can't really get on the throttle hard or you'll be clippin' trees. And the dust bowl race that I did, there were guys all over the place making wrong turns and cutting the track, Iv seen a guy going the wrong direction on the track, he pulled over really quick when he realized he was goin the wrong way :biggrin: . And Natalie is NOT a XC racer, so its really really easy to miss a turn or cut the track, most the these XC tracks zig-zag around, so one wrong move and you cut 40 yards off your race. Natalie would have had to know exactly where to cut the course to get in front of bill, would have to time it perfectly and would have had to do it in zero visibility conditions. Aint happenin. Now when Bill eventually caught up to John, there are no rules stating that John had to pull aside and let Ballance pass him, but with XC racing, when a faster racer comes up behind you and your slowing him down, your supposed to pull over. That little courtesy rule usually doesnt apply to two Pro racers, so John had no moral obligation to pull over and let Bill pass him. Lancems007 is my cousin' Lance. He's real good freinds with Chris and Joe Borich and he was all vocal at the beginning of the threads.... until the video was released, then everyone kinda got quiet :biggrin: . jb500ex\Jamie Boughner is a loudmouth too, he's a big Chris Borich fan and dislikes Ballance, he shut up pretty quick too when the video was released. Jamie is the owner of CardioStack race supplements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meat Posted October 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2007 http://www.exriders.com/vbb/showthread.php...threadid=321567 They're racing right now !! check out the thread I posted for live race coverage of the Ironman GNCC. The pros race starts around 1pm. Root for Borich, he needs all the good karma he can get :biggrin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Washburn Posted November 1, 2007 Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 Ide definatly like to see Borich take it all. Next year looks very promising for him though thats for sure. Im sure he will get more support and not have to worry about blowing parts and loseing races cause of it. My friend and mechanic Cody Buchanan of Buchanan Racing took 8th overall in the AWRCS Pro series Brandon Sommers took 1st place. All Brandon does is race I wouldent be suprised to see him up on the podium with the Bs in the next few. Next year looks like I will be racing the AWRCS in the Pro AM class. Hope to have the support of my fellow BHQers as I will be on a sick banshee with the help of Cody Buchanan and possibly Jim at Passions Racing (If Cody cant do mine) Im hearing 4 stroke power up to 6000 RPM then Ill take em out with the top end STIIIIIIIING!!!!!!!!!! Hope to be racing in the Pro class in the next 5 years. Get some sponcership going on. Untill then its winning money in unsancioned woods races to keep her on all 4s!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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