Press Release –
Yamaha YFZ450 racer Bill Ballance dared to do the impossible, and it paid off. Less than eight weeks after badly breaking his left ankle, Ballance rode to second place in the 11th round of the 2005 GNCC ATV series at the Unadilla Valley Sports Center near New Berlin, NY on Saturday, Sept. 24. It was a great finish, but the remarkable thing about it was that Ballance did it with seven screws still surgically implanted in his ankle!
This amazing test of mettle keeps the defending GNCC ATV champion and his YZF in the lead of the GNCC championship chase with two rounds remaining in the series. His nearest rival, Chris Borich, unfortunately did not finish the Unadilla round, allowing Ballance to pad his series lead by another 25 points. He now leads with 262 points to Borich’s 203 points. The advantage has come from winning, but also from consistency – so far Ballance has won five events but he has finished on the podium in nine out of 10 starts.
The weekend at the famous Unadilla motocross facility is the GNCC series’ only stop in the Northeast, after concentrating in the Midwest and South for most of the season. The event is a huge one – some 1000 amateur and professional riders, on both motorcycles and ATVs, were estimated to have entered.
