It seems the competitors of the 2025 Red Line Oil AMA National Enduro Championship, presented by MSR and Beta Motorcycles, can’t escape the rain this year, no matter what state they’re racing in. Southern Ohio got pounded with rain the night before the MSR Little Raccoon National Enduro, but racers geared up for their chance to collect a raccoon-skin hat and top honors on Sunday, June 29.
Story by Heather Wilson | Photos by Mack Faint
Red Bear Kawasaki Team Green swept the overall podium for the second time this season. Josh Toth captured his second win of 2025, beating his teammate Steward Baylor Jr by nearly 25 seconds.
Toth showcased his stamina and determination after he and his crew drove through the night to compete, following his impressive participation in the Southwick Pro Motocross.
“I had to find that dog in me,” said Toth. “I was worn out coming into today. I talked a lot of crap on Stu online, so I had to back it up, that’s for sure. Just a physical day, but these conditions suited me awesome. It was just very slick, one rut in a lot of it and just technical enough for it to keep you on your toes. I had to be very cautious on the throttle, and it just suited me well.”
Steward Baylor Jr started his day on a high note, scoring the initial test win by mere milliseconds over his teammate Toth, but finished out the day second overall.
“We did a little bit of testing this week,” said Baylor. “I was planning to race this tire with the rain. I had a different tire on there for the first few sections and just didn’t really feel super comfortable. I smoked a few trees, and I was just not riding my absolute best. But we made that change and won the last two sections.”
Younger brother and fellow Red Bear Kawasaki Team Green rider, Grant Baylor, rounded out the overall podium, bouncing between third and fourth for all six sections of the race.
“It was a pretty good day,” said Grant. “I just made a few too many mistakes. I hit the ground quite a few times, probably five or six times out there. I was just blowing a lot of turns and making too many little mistakes. But yeah, we’re coming back and getting closer. Just not happy with third, so we’ll come back swinging and see what we can do in Pennsylvania.”
Scoring his second NE Pro2 class win of the year, Red Bear Kawasaki Team Green’s Nicholas DeFeo finished one minute and 43 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. DeFeo’s speed also placed him within the top five overall.
Hall Cycle’s Jhak Walker (Beta) celebrated a Pro2 podium for the third time this year.
Will Sievenpiper (Kawasaki) rounded out the NE Pro2 class podium. He also placed inside the top 10 overall, in ninth.
The Little Raccoon National has been good to Red Bear Kawasaki’s Rachael Archer, who won the Women’s Elite class in 2024 and collected the class win again this year. She scored test wins in every section of the day, except one, in which she took a runner-up finish.
Rachel Gutish secured second in the first four tests on her Rieju.
Rounding out the Women’s Elite podium in Southern Ohio was Enduro Engineering’s Shelby Turner. She went 3-3-3-3-1-3 aboard her GasGas.
For the fourth time this year, Lane Whitmer has topped the AA class aboard his GasGas. His momentum for the day started with second place in test one. From there, he scored every test win in the AA class. He was also 12th overall.
James Jenkins of Missouri returned to the top of the 250A podium for the third time this season. With 2-1-2-1 class results in the early part of the day, he put his Kawasaki in first for section five and third for section six.
In the Championship standings, Toth and Steward Baylor are tied at the top on 110 points. Kelley is third on 73 points.CN
2025 AMA National Enduro Round 4 Results
Overall (Top 10)
- Josh Toth (Kaw)
- Steward Baylor Jr (Kaw)
- Grant Baylor (Kaw)
- Ricky Russell (Tri)
- Nicholas DeFeo (Kaw)
- Ben Kelley (KTM)
- Jhak Walker (Bet)
- Ryder Lafferty (Hon)
- Will Sievenpiper (Kaw)
- Ryan Piper (KTM)
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