2024 AMA National Enduro Round 5 Results

| July 2, 2024

Josh Toth scored another win in the 2024 Redline Oil AMA National Enduro Series, presented by MSR and Beta Motorcycles. The Enduro Engineering/GasGas rider’s latest success came at the Little Raccoon National in Wellston, Ohio, June 30. Toth outdueled the more than 400 entrants and stifling hot weather conditions.

Josh Toth at 2024 Little Raccoon Enduro — **Josh Toth claimed his fourth consecutive win in the Redline Oil AMA National Enduro Series. The latest win came at the Little Raccoon Enduro in Ohio.**

By Heather Wilson | Photos: Mack Faint

The day started with approximately three miles of transfer departing from the Jackson County Fairgrounds. When competitors arrived at the first section, they jumped into a pine forest for six miles of flowing trail.

The next two sections treated riders to tight, technical trail filled with elevation changes and off-camber trail. The fourth test traversed through an old strip mine before dumping riders into a 9.5-mile section that sent riders through Little Raccoon Creek and under the highway through giant culverts.

As the day stretched on, it was starting to look like survival of the fittest, with the heat zapping many riders’ energy and hydration levels. The day concluded with an eight-mile test that eventually brought riders into town.

Toth captured his fourth consecutive overall win of the year. In addition to taking top honors and four test wins, the NE Pro1 rider was awarded a coveted raccoon skin hat as a souvenir.

“It [the race] was pretty eventful, honestly,” said Toth. “I found the ground a bunch, too, and kind of ran into some lappers; not the cleanest day, but when I was upright, I was going fast and felt good on the bike. So, yeah, I linked it all together and put another win in the books. I’m stoked.”

Nathaniel Tasha at 2024 Little Raccoon Enduro — **Nathaniel “Bubz” Tasha was the NE Pro2 winner in eighth overall.**

Snatching the second step of the MSR Little Raccoon National podium was FMF KTM’s Johnny Girroir. He opened the day by notching the first enduro-test win, with three other riders hot on his tail, who all finished within five seconds of his time. Girroir backed up his test win by securing another in test three.

“I got my first test win ever at a National Enduro [and] got two of them today, so that was cool,” said Girroir. “Just like Grant [Baylor] said, I just found the ground way too many times but felt like I had some good speed. I feel like I need to find a little more to get [Toth]. He’s been killing it this year.”

Babbitt’s Online/Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Grant Baylor was third overall. “I feel like I just kind of left a lot on the table out there,” said Baylor. “I just made way too many mistakes. I don’t know if I’ve ever wrecked that much in a race in my life. Between this week and Snowshoe [GNCC] last week, I don’t know what I’m doing, but I can’t keep my bike on two wheels. I wrecked twice in the first test, once in the second test, twice in the third test. It just kept going on and on. Then, in the fourth test, I came over this blind rise—no danger [marking], Nothing. Just straight drop-off into a big rock garden. I hit a big boulder, front wheel first. Over the bars [and the] bike landed on me. I mean, it was a good one. Just way too much of that today. Need to keep it on two wheels.”

Steward Baylor Jr. (Kawasaki) and Evan Smith (Husqvarna) rounded out the top five overall.

Nathaniel “Bubz” Tasha set the pace for the NE Pro2 class on his AmPro Yamaha. He secured two test wins, finishing no worse than second place on the other tests. He earned the NE Pro2 victory with Red Bear Racing’s Will Sievenpiper on his heels. It marked Tasha’s second class win of the year.

Sievenpiper captured the test-one win mounted on his Kawasaki before adding a pair of runner-up test finishes, a set of third-place finishes and a strong test-six victory to achieve the second-place spot on the podium.

FMF KTM Factory Racing Team Landers rider Grant Davis pushed to secure the test-two victory before a high-speed, over-the-bar dismount in the third test. He went on to lay down strong results for the remainder of the day to take third in class and seize his fifth-straight class podium.

Red Bear Racing’s Rachael Archer, aboard a Kawasaki, led the Women’s Elite class all day, capturing four of the five test wins to claim her fifth-straight win this season.

Rachael Archer at 2024 Little Raccoon Enduro — **Rachael Archer topped the Women’s Elite division.**

A crash for Archer in test three opened the door for Rachel Gutish to capture a test win aboard her Sherco USA-backed machine. Gutish was happy with her fourth runner-up finish this year, but said she was exhausted due to her return from Europe, where she was competing in the EnduroGP series.

Enduro Engineering’s Shelby Turner captured third in all five tests, which landed her on the final step of the podium and allowed her to achieve her fifth class podium of the 2024 season.

AA class rider Cole Whitmer earned his best finish of the season, taking all but one test win in his class, and also asserted his dominance as the top amateur. The GasGas rider from Pennsylvania finished 14th overall.