Borich Outduels McGill at Mountain Ridge GNCC

“I know Borich and Bithell go really strong on the rocks, so I knew they were coming,” says McGill.

It took Borich two laps to catch McGill, and then the race was on for the final lap, the duo going back and forth on the final 11-mile loop.

“We passed each other a bunch of times,” says McGill. “It was fun, we were yelling at each other and waving. He had a great line in a field, it was straighter than mine and he got around, then I got to another section and just wanted to show him what this Baldwin motor can do. I was like “see ya!”

Borich fought back, though and gained the lead one more time, but then his engine started to go south.

“I knew it was barely gonna’ hold on, all I could do was dump the clutch and hope it kept pulling,” says Borich.

“In those fields, I could smell him, so I just hoped I could push him enough so he could rev it out and blow It up,” says McGill.

Borich’s engine held together, barely, billowing smoke as he crossed the finish two seconds ahead of McGill.

“Hey, it did its job,” says Borich.

Sommers overcame fellow Yamaha rider Taylor Kiser, who ran third early.

“I caught up to Taylor and it looked like something was wrong,” says Sommers. “But as soon as I passed him he went back after me, of course. It was fun, but then I saw his handlebars had actually come loose, so I was able to get away.”

Kiser, despite the loose bars, hung on for fourth ahead of nine-time and defending GNCC Champion Bill Ballance.

“I had a bad bad bad bad start,” says Ballance. “It was dusty in some sections on the first lap, I was going first gear in some fifth-gear sections just fighting it.”

Ballance passed Houser Racing’s Bryan Cook on the last lap to get fifth, while Cook held on for sixth. Privateer Jarrod McClure took seventh, followed by Don Ockerman, Ryan Lane and Duane Johnson.

In XC2 action, FRE KTM’s Josh Kirkland rallied for the win after a battle with Yamaha’s Brian Wolf, who had won three-straight races coming into the event.

“It was good clean racing, but I did tag Brian in the pits once,” says Kirkland. “I didn’t know he was going to pull in to pit and I got locked up in his wheel.”

“It was good racing,” says Wolfe. “I’m glad to be up here, these have been some good battles.”

Third went to Parker Jones, who mounted a comeback effort from out of the top ten.

“I’m really happy with this,” says Jones. “I would like to be up there with those two, but they’re really going fast right now.”

In the morning race, Four-Stroke Tech’s Mike Benson finally broke through for an overall win after three years of close calls. He was awarded the $100 GT Thunder Morning Race Overall Award.

“I started racing this series on bikes in 1980, and switched over the ATVs in 1985,” says Benson, who races on a Kawasaki KFX700 in the U2 class. “We’ve been so darned close to being up here, this is just a dream come true for me and my family.”

Second overall went to 4×4 Limited Class Winner Michael Swift on his Warnert Racing Can-Am. Third went to the previous morning race overall winner, Super Senior (50+) rider Glenn Pritchard. FRE KTM’s Angel Atwell finished fourth overall and took her fifth win of the season in the Women’s class. Lexie Coulter and Kristen Atwell followed her home, while defending Women’s Class Champion Traci Cecco saw her two-race win streak end while she ran into electrical problems on the first lap.

The 2009 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series continues with the Wiseco John Penton GNCC in Millfield, Ohio, in three weeks, on June 6 and 7.

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