October 18, 2003 - Many classes have unsolved business here at Round Thirteen, as the riders approach the last GNCC event of 2003. The Ironman event brings four-wheeler riders from all over to attend, with the vast majority of new riders being from IN. On the morning classes' starting line, the buzz was who was going to win the Women's Class. With this race being the determinate for the Championship, both women had to be ready. Traci Cecco has been having a strong second half, winning the last two events. Cecco only needed one more win to tie in points with current point's leader, Stephanie Parton. Could it be done? Mike Penland already claimed his tenth Utility Stock Championship, but was back to battle Shannon Kelly once again. In the Four Stroke Stock Class, Richard Travalena, John Wright and Adam Howell were down to the wire with Travalena having just one win, Wright and Howell both at four. The Four Stroke Novice 16-24 year old class also was holding a Championship battle. Will Cashion held the most wins in points, but with four wins, Cashion also had a couple of bad finishes. Jesse Brunton, with just two wins, was only a point away from taking the Championship. In the Two Stroke Novice Class, Jason Lindsey and Rodney Baker were separated by a few mere points. The win would come down to whoever took home the better finish. Anyone could walk away a winner.

A.M. racing

In the Four Stroke Stock Class, John Wright took the early lead and was trying to get himself another overall finish. On lap one Wright held just a ten second lead over William Howell and Adam Howell. W. Howell took over the lead on lap two as well as the Overall for the morning. A. Howell was still right behind him for second overall, dropping Wright to third. Richard Travalena, no stranger to the front, was holding onto fourth, right behind Wright. W. Howell continued to hold the lead as Wright fought to push his way into second, bringing Doug Henke with him, dropping A. Howell back to fourth with Travalena. W. Howell has switched around through the season, from class to class, claiming a spot in Four Stroke A, Four Stroke B, as well as Four Stroke Stock.

In the 2 Stroke Novice Class, local Indiana boy, Chris Slocum held the first place position with Paul Kowcheck in second, nearly two minutes behind. Jason Lindsey led a pack of 2 Stroke Novice riders behind him, all hungry for a win. By lap two, Lindsey moved into second, still a minute behind Slocum with Dustin Stricker moving through the pack with Robert Welsh battling for third. Lindsey took over the lead when the two lap card went out, with Welsh not far behind for second. Slocum fell to fifteen seconds back for third. Kowcheck was running fourth, but broke on the next lap, to drop him out of the running. Lindsey took the white flag with Welsh just seconds back. The duo held over an eight minute lead over Slocum in hopes of taking the win.

The battle that wrote history

Traci Cecco was nearly a minute back and working her way through the mud hole before getting caught up in the ravine.

Parton took the holeshot as the green flag went into the air, but by half way around the course, Cecco took the lead. Cecco and Parton were just seconds apart on lap one and two, neither giving up the fight for the win. On lap three, Parton held nearly a minute lead. Cecco was having problems and with only two more laps to go, she couldn't afford to give up. With the white flag waving, Parton was in the lead with Cecco a minute back. Only ten more miles to go to tell the Women's Class Champion, would the track hold up?

Overall

Of course it didn't. Half way into the track, the ravine got tricky. One four-wheeler got hung up and the whole crew was left sitting. Hundreds of riders were there, waiting in a single file line to get their chance at the ravine's hill. Many racers said they sat there and joked about things, waiting for the line to start to move. Why do that? Tyler Lenig saw a way out and went for it. Lenig crossed the finish line to take the overall with no one else in site. As he mounted the podium, he said, "I bet I won by five minutes. I saw a clearing at the top of the ravine where I was sitting. I went to it and got around the bottleneck to make my way here." The fans may have been expecting the Howell boys to take the overall, but they were too far into the bottleneck to see the way out. Nearly ten minutes later, second overall crossed the finish line. Robert Welsh and Jason Lindsey both from the 2 Stroke Novice took second and third overall as they also were able to get through the bottleneck and surprise the fans.

With the top three overall riders surprising the crowd, the fans were anxious to see the Women's Class come to a close. Nearly twenty-five minutes after Lenig crossed the finish line, the sounds of battling quads came through the last section of woods. Cecco was leading Parton just as Cecco hit a tree to jam her up. Parton pulled back trying to look for a way around, but was unsuccessful. The two pit crews that were standing at the checkered flag awaiting the arrival of the ladies jumped the fence to help. Cecco's team was able to get her pulled back and the two ladies were unleashed. Rounding the checkered flag turn, Cecco passed first with Parton spinning out while trying to duck on the inside to pass. Cecco jumped up and screamed "Yes," after she was scanned. Husband, Rick Cecco, ran to her as she was screaming for joy of yet another Women's Championship title. Cecco ran up to the podium to hug nephew Lenig as the two celebrated with big muddy smiles up on the podium.

After nearly forty minutes of waiting, the ground was rumbling as a continuous line of muddy quads came rolling toward the checkered flag. The ravine had been unleashed and the racers worked their way to claim their glory as they crossed the finish line. The Howell boys were unaware that traffic had gotten around them, so when they saw they didn't take home the overall, they were confused. "We had decided to sit there and when the ravine was passable, we would make a free for all to the finish," one of the top Four Stroke Stock riders confessed.

A.M. resolution

To wrap up the A.M. race, a week after the event, Racer Productions resolved a protest from the morning event. With too much of the track missed on the final lap, the times were added back to the riders that passed the ravine section. Tyler Lenig lost his overall win to drop back to sixth place and fifteenth overall. William Howell took the Four Stroke Stock first place finish with a seventh overall finish, giving second place to Adam Howell, third to John Wright, fourth to Doug Henke, and fifth to David Wilson.

Who will be crowned 2003 Ironman?

William Yokley took the holeshot next to Bill Ballance and Chad Duvall leaning in. Swinging wide is Bryan Cook and Jeremy Rice tapping wheels around the turn.

With Bill Ballance rolling out the 250 R, he was getting serious. "I have never taken home the Ironman victory. Today is serious for me. Nothing would make my Championship better than to have this win," Ballance said as he signed autographs. The 250R was being put into retirement officially after the race, already having the For Sale sign taped to the front. Walking down pit row, lots of four-wheelers had the For Sale sign. WHY, you asked? Racer Productions spoke with the Pro riders before the event, telling them that next season, the Pro Class would be no more. The Pro Production Class would come into full effect for 2004, allowing only Production quads in the class. All the R's would have to go. With this ruling, next year will mean a new quad for many pro riders; one they may not be ready for. Although after summer break, Ballance and Smiley dropped their R's for the Production machines, riders like Chris Borich, Santo DeRisi, Jeremy Rice, and Andris Lagzdins still were aboard their Roll and LRD machines. After the Ironman event, most of these riders were looking at getting ready for the 2004 season by buying a new quad and adjusting to it by January when the season would open in Texas. Riders like William Yokley were just excited because his Nac's Suzuki is dialed in and ready for 2004. "This is my favorite track. I am ready for today."

Yokley took the holeshot when the green flag went up and held off Chad Duvall and Bill Ballane around a few turns and through the cornfields. With less than half of the track to go on lap two, Ballance took over the lead, wanting his first Ironman overall. The man the fans knew that could take it away from him, Chris Borich moved into second with Duvall still right on his rear tires for third. With the two lap card out, Borich moved into the first place position with Ballance, Duvall, Greg Trew, and Santo DeRisi all within seconds of Borich. One lap of racing to go, Ballance regained the lead with Borich dropping back to second with DeRisi up to third, within passing distance of Borich. The track was getting tricky at the creek, would Ballance make it back for the overall?

Cook and Stoess give it away to someone new

In the Four Stroke A Class, a new battle was going on. Bryan Cook and Jeff Stoess, after wrapping up first and second for the Championship, moved up to the Pro line to make a name amongst the Pros. On lap one, Duane Johnson was in first with Doug Flinner riding in second, seconds behind. On lap two, Gregg Stewart, riding for Lewis Racing, moved into the first place position as well as top twenty overall. Johnson dropped to twenty seconds back for second and John Rowling moved into third, after riding in eleventh on the lap before. Two laps to go, Stewart gained a few seconds lead over Rowling, with Rick Cecco moving into third place, over a minute back. Johnson was still hanging on, just seconds back with Ryan Lane moving up to fifth. With the white flag out, Rowling took over the lead. Stewart fell to second, but was losing sight of his first Four Stroke A win. With Rowling and Stewart battling for guts and glory, Cecco fell to a minute and a half back for third with Johnson holding off Travis Styles for fourth.

Open B battling hard

All it takes is one rut to get a four-wheeler hung up. With the Pros coming up the woods, this racer worked his quad free before the Pros could catch him.

On lap one in the Open B Class, Shane Benson aboard a Suzuki held the first place position with Michael Pellegrini twenty seconds back for second. Jeffrey Pickens was running third, less than thirty seconds back. On lap two, Benson was still out front with Mark Notman moving up to second, a minute and a half back. Pickens was still running third. With two laps of racing remaining, Pickens worked his way into first place with Notman still over a minute back for second. Rusty Richards moved up to third, less than two minutes back from Notman, dropping Benson off to sixth place. One lap to go and Notman was less than twenty seconds behind Pickens, but both riders were hungry for their first class win. Richards still held third, but fell off pace to just under three minutes back with Shawn Stewart moving up to fourth a minute back from Richards, and Benson moving back up to fifth.

P.M. Overall

Just before the creek crossing on the last lap, Yokley took over the overall at the creek. Duvall moved up to second with DeRisi passing Ballance. Half way to the finish, Yokley was still in the lead with Duvall and Ballance wheel to wheel. DeRisi had bike problems causing his bike to seize at the creek, moving Trew up to fourth right behind Ballance. Less than a mile from the finish, Ballane put the pass on Yokley to move into the first place position where he fought hard to stay to see the checkered flag first. "This is the best way to retire this two stroke; topping off my Championship this year with the Ironman victory is even sweeter," Ballance said while holding the number one plate high on the podium. Yokley took second overall with a big grin on his face and signing autographs from the podium. "Chad and I battled all day. I can't wait for Texas where we can do it again." While on the podium, Ballance called out all the sponsors that backed him for day one of the 2003 season and brought the ones that were at the race track up on the podium to celebrate with him on his fourth GNCC Championship title.

Duvall took third overall for the day with Borich over a minute back. Matt Smiley didn't have the race day he was looking for. On lap one, Smiley was running twelfth, but worked his way to battle Borich to the last mile to finish fifth overall. Nine seconds back from Smiley was Trew, who put in an incredible ride from the start. Jeremy Rice was sixth overall, just twenty seconds back with Todd Knippenberg all over his rear tires crossing the finish line. Eric Conner, a former Four Stroke A rider moved up to Pro Production for the day to take tenth overall. Joe Kish, a former Open A racer at the beginning of the year, took an eleventh overall finish for the day. Bryan Cook, the Four Stroke A Class Champion for 2003 made a debut appearance in Pro Production, and took thirteenth overall after having a flat tire on lap one that put him running eighteenth. James Wahl, from 250 A Class, took fifteenth overall, as well as another class win, giving him the Championship for 2003. Greg Stewart took his first Four Stroke A Class win as well as a top twenty overall finish.