GNCC (ATV): Borich wins again

Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Chris Borich took a step closer to securing his first GNCC title with victory in round 10 at Unadilla.

After a tight race at the course in New Berlin, NY, Borich sprinted away from Yamaha team-mates Brandon Sommers and Bill Balance on the last lap to take a seventh XC1 class win of the season and extend his points lead to 53.

“I really wanted to win today, I wasn’t just coming here to score points,” Borich said. “I had a lot of friends and family out here cheering me on. We were battling hard and everyone was riding well, but the Suzuki was awesome. We kind of lost our way doing some suspension testing last week, but we kept our heads down and everything worked awesome today.”

Sommers had led going into the last lap but couldn’t prevent Borich from making his move and pulling away. He did however hold off nine-time champion Balance to claim second.

“I’ve been wanting to win one of these since I was racing in the C class,” said Sommers. “I was in the lead, just going as fast as I could in the open stuff and then trying to ride smart in the woods. I was pushing it, but Chris was riding really well and got away from there. Bill’s won nine championships and he’s hard to hold off, but I managed to do it and get on the podium.”

Balance settled for third, with Borich’s main title rival Taylor Kiser (Yamaha) in fourth ahead of KTM’s Adam McGill, who led early on before his pit stop. An incredibly close race saw just 15 seconds separating the top seven riders heading into the last lap.

There was no surprise in the XC2 class as Brian Wolf guided his Yamaha to a seventh win in ten races.

While he wasn’t able to repeat his heroics from the last round at Snowshoe, where he claimed the overall victory, he showed stunning speed and race craft to fight past Kevin Yoho to claim the win.

Yoho had led much the event, but ultimately found himself in third as Joshua Kirkland also found his way past to follow Wolf home in second place.

GNCC (ATV) results – Round 10, Unadilla

XC1 Top Ten

1 Chris Borich, Suzuki
2 Brandon Sommers, Yamaha
3 Bill Ballance, Yamaha
4 Taylor Kiser, Yamaha
5 Adam McGill, KTM
6 Donald Ockerman, Yamaha
7 Bryan Cook, Honda
8 Johnny Gallagher, Yamaha
9 Jarrod McClure, Yamaha
10 Duane Johnson, Honda

XC2 Top Ten

1 Brian Wolf, Yamaha
2 Joshua Kirkland, KTM
3 Kevin Yoho, Yamaha
4 Parker Jones, Honda
5 Gabe Phillips, Yamaha
6 Blake Kramer, Suzuki
7 Eric Hoyland, Honda
8 Scott Day, Yamaha
9 Eric Wilezek, Suzuki
10 Josh Beavers, KTM

Championship Standings (after 10 rounds)

XC1

1 Chris Borich – 252pts
2 Taylor Kiser – 199
3 Adam McGill – 176
4 Bill Balance – 175
5 Brandon Sommers – 172
6 Bryan Cook – 162
7 Donald Ockerman – 134
8 Jarrod McClure – 122
9 Duane Johnson – 122
Johnny Gallagher – 95

XC2

1 Brian Wolf – 276
2 Joshua Kirkland – 258
3 Eric Hoyland – 168
4 Parker Jones – 142
5 Rob Hertz – 125
6 Gabe Phillips – 112
7 Kevin Yoho – 104
8 Dustin Canipe – 97
9 Scottie Rich – 93
10 Josh Beavers – 91

Watch GNCC highlights as part of Motors TV’s winter programming.


Andy Wilkinson