VOLUME 57 ISSUE 44 NOVEMBER 3, 2020 P41
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 pow-
erband. 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 Fah-
ringer 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 lacklus-
ter first lap. The local teenager
said, "The first lap was interest-
ing. 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 becom-
ing 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 rid-
den 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 basi-
cally 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 over-
all, 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 slip-
ping 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."
John Gasso
OVERALL
1. Nick Fahringer (She)
2. Colten Zuidema (KTM)
3. Tanner Whipple (Kaw)
4. Colt Converse (Yam)
5. Easton Morgan (KTM) A Class
Colten Zuidema was the runner up
after getting off to a slow start.
