2025 50th Annual The Race Results

Mark Kariya | November 10, 2025

With conditions reminiscent of the inaugural running in 1976—a bit of snow and a high temperature in the mid-30s that felt colder due to winds gusting to 30 miles per hour—The Race, presented by Moose Racing, celebrated a milestone that furthered its reputation for occupying a unique niche in the sport.

Jhak Walker at 2025 50th Annual The Race — Running third about a minute behind teammate Cody Barnes 15 miles in, Jhak Walker (pictured) bided his time, railed the 50-mile loop the second time around after it had tacked up beautifully and won the 50th annual The Race for his second time.

Photos by Mark Kariya

Not only did this year’s edition mark its 50th annual version, making it one of the few races in the country that can make that claim, but it has had just one man responsible for it all: Bill Gusse. On the other end of the age scale, this year saw its youngest-ever overall winner pick up his second The Race victory. In doing so, he became the 10th multi-time winner of The Race, which has also been known at various times as the Illinois State Cross-Country Championship and the Moose Run.

Liqui Moly Beta’s Jhak Walker was 16 when he won it two years ago, DNFed last year, then came back to avenge that black mark this year, with newcomer James Jenkins and 2021 winner Tanner Whipple joining him on the overall podium.

The field faced a 50-mile-long loop run twice (once for the C riders), with its usual mix of tight, technical woods and generous stretches of freshly harvested cornfields, allowing riders to stretch throttle cables to the limit. Pros would vie for a $2000 purse, half of it earmarked for the winner.

James Jenkins at 2025 50th Annual The Race — Though he ran near the front on the first lap, James Jenkins ended up losing contact when he fell then lost more time searching for the right line in some fields. But the second lap saw him make up ground to claim second at the finish in his debut at The Race.

Toby Cleveland stretched the throttle cable of his Bell’s Electric Husqvarna best and chose the fastest way to the holeshot money as well as a couple of other firsts, though he would later drop down the field.

That opened up a battle for the lead among several contenders, including former winner Cody Barnes (on an ex-Josh Strang Beta 480 RR he’d picked up the day before), Walker, Jayson Crawford, Tobin Miller, Whipple, Adam Bonneur and others.

But as the miles wore on, the pack grew smaller, with Walker taking firm command coming into the Bike Barn main pit at the end of the first 50 miles.

“Honestly, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen coming into here [since] I was on a 250cc two-stroke and everyone else was on big-bores,” the FMF/ Bridgestone/ FXR-backed 250 RR rider admitted. “I’m pretty happy I rode the 250 because it was pretty good in the tight woods. In the [top-gear cornfields], I’d lose a little bit, but it wasn’t enough to cost me the race.

“This race is completely different from any race there is! It’s probably one of the hardest races I have done. I fell five or six times, but everyone was falling [because that first loop was so slick]. We were in a train—with me, Toby Cleveland, Cody Barnes, James Jenkins—and we were switching positions nonstop! Everyone was crashing; it was so slick, no one could keep it together. I had a lot of fun the second lap. The first lap, I was struggling because of the slickness; the second lap, it tacked up a lot—the track was good [then]. I was hoping it was going to get better [than the first lap], but I didn’t expect it to tack up as good as it did.”

Tanner Whipple at 2025 50th Annual The Race — Former winner and local hero Tanner Whipple refused to let a bad first lap dictate his race and kept moving forward. When conditions improved for lap two, he regained enough ground to end up third overall.

Jenkins ended up second-fastest on the day aboard his Bell’s Electric/Fly Racing FX 250. He said, “Me, Toby, Cody and Jhak rode together for most of the first lap. I went down and lost a bunch of time after that. I couldn’t follow the flags and got lost in just about every field the last 10 miles of the track, but the second lap was, like Tanner said, all-time! It could not have been any better; the ruts were insanely good!”

Liqui Moly Beta’s Whipple had to come back from a poor start and multiple crashes in the first 15 miles. But the nature of The Race meant he had plenty of time to regroup and regain lost ground aboard his Hall’s Cycles/G2/FXR 480 RR.

“It was a super-good time,” Whipple said. “Like I say, the biggest thing about The Race is finishing, so that’s step number one, I guess. It’s really, really hard to play catch-up when you’re so far back from the beginning, but the second lap was super-tacky. I thought it was an awesome time.”

XC Gear/SxS/Klim KTM-mounted Tobin Miller recovered from his own spills to take fourth, followed by overall A winner Kade Heilman on his D&W Cycles/FXR-sponsored KTM.

Kade Heilman at 2025 50th Annual The Race — **Fifth overall, Kade Heilman took top A honors with an excellent ride.**

Hard enduro rider Kamakana Waiwaiole-Kahalepuna from Hawaii coped with the bitter cold as best he could to earn fifth Pro and sixth overall on his Big 4 Motorsports/TBT Racing KTM. Davin Shike, Matt McDonald, Brady Dillbeck and Jarrett Ruchotzke rounded out the top 10.

And while this edition of The Race may have been the 50th, Gusse insists it’s not the very last one—yet. Hiking through the woods at 81 years old is, understandably, a lot more difficult, so he is open to shortening the loop and possibly—unbelievably—making his baby just a touch easier. The weather, however, is beyond his control.CN