standings

Traci Cecco 202 GNCC Women's Pro 3rd Round 2 - Orange Crush 6th Round 1 - The Lone Star 1st Chris Borich #3 GNCC Men's Pro 1st Round 2 - Orange Crush 1st Round 1 - The Lone Star 1st

Chris Borich Wins
Orange crush

• That's Two In A Row for Current
  GNCC Points Leader Chris Borich
• Traci Cecco Injured in Nasty Spill
  at Start

Mar 5-6
GNCC Round 2
The Orange Crush - De Leon Springs, FL

Chris Borich is on fire! And everyone here at ALBA is stoked to have him on our team. He's our kind of rider - fast, strong and likes to spend time at the top of the winner's podium! Even though he called the Florida track "The hardest and most challenging he ever raced," he still managed to come out on top - worn-out but still the winner - besting the top names in the sport!

Post Race Interview of Borich: Lance Schwartz
Photos: Harlen, ATVRiders.com

About the Track
CB: This track was honestly one of the hardest and most challenging I ever raced. There was absolutely nowhere to get a break. There were tons of whoops and really tight trees. I was completely wiped out after the event!

Start
CB: My Alba Action Honda 450R started on the 1st kick and I was second off the line, following Bill Balance. On the first lap, Brandon Balance was behind me and all three of us guys were rolling together. I stayed in 2nd the whole first lap just following and watching Bill to see what lines he was taking and to watch how his YFZ was handling.

Pass For The Lead
CB: On the second lap I finally made my move on Bill Ballance. He went wide into a corner and I cut inside and went around him around the 2 mile marker. I Stayed in front the rest of the 2nd lap and put some distance on the pack. At the end of the second lap I pitted for fuel and had enough of a lead that I was able to pull out before the others caught up. So they had no idea that I had already pitted and was gone!

Sizing Up the Competition
CB: During the third lap. Brandon Balance caught up and I let him by to see what type of pace he was running. Brandon led for a while, but I was able to pass him before he pitted. Since I was following him, I knew the pace Brandon was running, so I stepped it up a bit to try and pull away. At the end of the 3rd lap, I saw both Ballance boys pitting. During the 4th lap, I was running up front alone, just trying to hang onto the quad and keep a steady pace. Towards the end of the 4th lap, I saw the pit board said I was up by 1 minute.

Finish
CB: For the final lap, I knew I was pretty far ahead. So, I just kept charging. About the 7 mile marker my tether came undone and my 450R stalled in the woods. I kicked it for about 30 seconds before it fired back up. I must have been running decently on the last lap because I still finished the race about 1 minute ahead of Brandon Ballance at the end. Smiley was third on his Predator, Fourth went to Yokely, and Fifth was Bill Balance

When the race was over, we noticed the air filter was totally clogged with sand, dust, and whatever else that track had on it - but it was still running.

BIKE
CB: My Alba Action 450R worked awesome! The Custom Axis shocks and ARS FX swingarm and A Arms worked incredibly with my Maxxis tires and Hiper Wheels. My Spider grips did the best they could to protect my hands as well.

Traci Cecco Injured in Turn-One Crash

Unfortunately Team Alba's Traci Cecco was unable to also follow up on her GNCC Round 1 win after a nasty crash in the beginning of the race - and was hurt in the process. After nailing the hole-shot on her event, Traci was clipped and ended up in a nasty crash, injuring her neck.

Despite the injuries, Traci hopped back on her YFZ and headed out on what Chris Borich described as the toughest track he'd ever raced. 5 laps on the grueling 11 mile course was more than enough for Traci and she earned herself a 6th place finish. That is the kind of drive and dedication that really makes her stand apart from any other rider. After the race, she hopped into the ambulance to be checked out by a local physician. Fortunately, there was nothing seriously broken, but she did suffer significant strain to her neck and shoulders. Of course, as soon as she was checked out she came back to the track to watch the Men's pro event and cheer on 2005 Team Mate Chris Borich.

GNCC Women's Race
Traci Cecco

Race Report by: Rick Cecco

The Start
The beautiful mid 70's weather topped of with cloudless skies was a warm welcome from the mid 50' temps in TX a few weeks ago to the mid 20's temps of Alba's XC Team's home state of Pennsylvania. The terrain featured several small hill climbs, tight woods sections and long fast grassy fields that as time passed would form a 11 mile sand whoop course.

"I had a great start easily pulling the holeshot with a clear track ahead of me" "Rounding the 3rd corner with was a hairpin turn which I was just starting to powerslide my way thru keeping my momentum up when I got hit from the side and all the sudden I was flying thru the air" " By the time I got my quad on 4 wheels and got going the pack was gone and all I could see was dust" " I charged ahead setting a decent pace but nothing too crazy as I started to pass one ride after the other - most looked like they were having a hard time holding on but my Epic / Elka suspension was handling the course like it was pavement"

Off the start Team Alba's Traci Cecco takes the holeshot with Suzuki's Stephanie Parton taking second and Baldwin Motorsports Angel Atwell settling into 3 with the rest of the 12 Women field all taking there perspective positions. By the third turn Cecco still holds the lead thru a hairpin turn as Parton blindsides Cecco from the inside with Cecco being ejected and her Alba Actionsports YFZ rolling to a stand still upside-down. By the time Cecco would remount her quad the rest of the pack was gone leaving her nothing to chase but dust.

Mid Race
With Traci's wreck and the amount of dust already filling the air the Alba Action pit crew was completely stoked to find out Cecco was on a tear, with reports coming back from track spotters of her passing racers one by one to eventually showing in 2nd at the end of the first lap. She kept on going, taking over the 1st place position within 1 mile of the end of the lap two. As the temperatures rose and the tracks condition would deteriorate with deep ruts & sand whoops Cecco would keep her pace thru the 2nd and 3rd lap pulling up to 2 minutes gaps between herself and second place.

"By the end of the 1st lap I caught and passed everyone and moved from last to 2nd place" "I would pass Angel within the first mile of the second lap for the lead" "The second and third laps were fairly smooth as I just kept my own pace and pulled a good comfortable lead"

Mid-way thru the 4th lap Cecco pitted with the injuries from last weeks crash coming back and taking it's toll. She complained of her neck being very sore and her helmet feeling way to heavy, so she switched back to her old helmet and went back out to finish the 5 lap race. Several minutes later several calls would come back from track spotters that Traci looked a bit "off" and may need medical attention - some stopped her to see if she was "OK" but she was determined to stay on pace as she lost her lead & watched her position fade. Traci's neck was giving out and she had no control of her head.

At the end of the 4th lap officials pulled Traci from the race course calling for help from the track Paramedics. Traci would end up taking an ambulance ride to DeLand Hospital for a checkup of Ultrasounds & X-rays to check for internal neck & head injuries. Traci would be released in good spirits with injuries consisting of a sprained & swollen neck.

"The second and third laps were fairly smooth as I just kept my own pace and pulled a good comfortable lead but by the start of the 4th lap my neck which was already sore was starting to give out - it had enough" " I tried to switch helmets since I figured my new one may be heavier but that did not help so I tried my best to finish by holding my head up with my left hand in the straights to try and give my neck a break" " I would end up getting pulled from the track after several officials decided I had enough - I just could not hold my head up anymore" "Right now I am going to go home and get at least 2-3 hours of therapy on my neck to try and come back to race the General GNCC in GA next weekend"

See Complete Race and Series Results at GNCCracing.com

Additional Race Info at ATVriders.com
Additional Race Report at ATVSCENE.COM