| November 4, 2020
The OMA Nationals posted its latest installment of a 45-year tradition that began life as The Illinois Cross-Country. The event, a mainstay of Midwest off-road motorcycle racing, was known as the Moose Run for years, but now it is simply The Race.
Story and Photos by John Gasso
This year the event was presented by Rock River Arms, a title sponsor of the series, and two RRA rifles were included in the prize package: One for the overall winner of The Race and one for the OMA Nationals season champion. With a loop made up of approximately 45 miles of timber, peat bogs, creeks and logs, this event challenges man and machine. Forty mile-per-hour winds and temperatures hovering below 40 degrees made it even more physically challenging. A shotgun blast signaled the start, and Tanner Whipple (Kawasaki/Fly Racing) took the holeshot after a high-speed run across a freshly harvested corn field, leading 28 other pro and A riders on their 90-mile adventure.
During the first 60 miles of the race Buddy Fortune and Nick Fahringer (Sherco/FXR/Kenda) swapped the lead numerous times, while Whipple, Colt Converse Moose Racing/Dunlop, and Cole Zuidema Moose Racing were hot on their heels. Fortune, however, crashed out. Fahringer persevered and came home with the win. Zuidema took second place, and Whipple rounded out the podium. His third-place finish also cemented Whipple in as the season champion.
“This is my fifth time winning out of the Bike Barn,” said Fahringer. “It was good. I haven’t done a traditional cross-country race. I have been focusing on hard enduros. With this being the, you know, hardest race in America from back in the day, I miss this track, I miss this race, I miss the OMA crew, so I came up here to have some fun. It was fun.”
Fahringer rode a FactoryONE Sherco 300 two-stroke. “I like a carbureted two-stroke,” he said. “They have such an organic powerband. It has a lot of meat to it. You can let it work out there in the raw terrain that Bill [Gusse] throws at us. That’s why I come here.”
The only real complaint Fahringer had was the trail seemed almost too rideable. “Once we got riding, I thought, man, the conditions are good out here,” Fahringer said. “They should have a rain date for this race and wait for it to rain. Everything felt so rideable to me. And the young guys, I haven’t been part of the OMA series for a while, the guys that have been carrying the series in the pro class, they were keeping me honest.”
Cole Zuidema battled his way into second place after a lackluster first lap. The local teenager said, “The first lap was interesting. I got lost and just tried to ride and figure out the trail. The second lap I turned it up a little bit and finished second.”
Third place went to Whipple after a close battle with Converse that ended with Whipple becoming un-stuck more quickly than Converse at a mudhole roughly four miles from the end of the race. Whipple was also on a different bike than he has ridden for the rest of the series this year. His new Kawasaki KX450X seems to be a good fit.
“I love it,” said Whipple. “I was a little bit skeptical because we had never owned a four-stroke before, and the first one in our shop was a 450. But it ended up I adapted to it quick and I’ve loved it ever since I’ve been on it.”
Whipple said of the race, “It was very cold. I fell in the creek that last lap and got passed by Colto and Cole [Zuidema]. I basically just followed him [Converse] until he got caught up in a creek. I went next, we both were stuck. We looked at each other, and I got out first.”
Whipple also received a Rock River Arms LAR15 for winning the season championship.
Fourth place Converse was looking at second place late in the second lap but getting stuck in a mudhole near the end of the race left the door open for Whipple.
Rounding out the top five overall, Easton Morgan put his Mom and Dad-sponsored KTM on the box in first place for the A class.
“I got an alright start,” said Morgan. “I just tried to keep it on two wheels the first lap, take it easy and learn from the guys up front of me. That second lap I came through and I knew I had to pick it up because I was a little bit behind. I tried to ride smart and keep it going. I ended up slipping into that fifth-place spot and tried to ride there the majority of that second lap. I ended up fifth overall and first in A. Hopefully we’ll get some more sponsors next year, and we will try to go for that big class championship.”
- Nick Fahringer (She)
- Colten Zuidema (KTM)
- Tanner Whipple (Kaw)
- Colt Converse (Yam)
- Easton Morgan (KTM) A Class