Chris Bach gives JCR Honda its second major off-road win in the same day with a victory in the Moose Run.
Story and Photos by John Gasso
On a crisp fall Sunday in rural Fenton, Illinois, half a country away from where new teammate Ricky Brabec won the final round of the SRT/AMA National Championship Hare & Hound Series, Lucas Oil/Johnny Campbell Racing Honda’s Chris Bach added his name to a list of top racers who have won Bill Gusse’s infamous OMA Nationals Moose Racing Moose Run.
Bach, who later said he “kind of forgot how gnarly it was,” was relentless in his pursuit of victory, but the win didn’t come easily. Jimmy Jarret, who has won the race numerous times, grabbed the holeshot aboard his Moose Racing JJR Pointview Cycles KTM, and the veteran racer set a solid pace for much of the first lap before Nick Fahringer slipped his ARR Moose Racing Husqvarna TE300 past Jarrett late in the first of two 50-mile loops. Once on point, Fahringer put his enduro skills to good use in gapping the field.
Bach, Jarrett, and series points leader Steward Baylor soon hooked up, and with Jarrett and Bach in tow, Baylor was able to up the pace aboard his Fly Racing G2 KTM. The trio was soon within sight of Fahringer, and the race pace continued to escalate. Unfortunately for Baylor, a rut sent him bounding up a tree, and a tree branch knocked him on the head. Baylor, who said he momentarily lost feeling in his fingers, stopped for a moment to regain his bearings. With the season championship on the line, concerns for his smoking bike, and now temporary numbness in his hands, Baylor dialed it down a notch and ultimately finished in fourth place, just behind Jarrett, to capture the 2015 OMA Nationals Championship.
Bach and Jarrett continued to pursue the experienced Fahringer and his very fast Husqvarna. Jarrett was the next one to catch a bad break when he stuck his KTM in one of the river crossings. A large hole swallowed up Jarrett and his machine, allowing Bach to get away and eventually make move into the lead.
“Once we got through the river clean, then it was wide open all the way back,” Bach said. “I know Nick was out of his comfort zone because he doesn’t ride wide open like that. He is a pretty conservative guy and I’m riding wide open and trying to pass him. I’ll tell you what, his two stroke is fast. I could get a run on him, but once I caught up to him we were dead even. There was nothing you could do but sit there wide open and eat the roost. We came onto the moto track, and I knew I had to do something. Nick did the smart move. He did the same move that I would have done, He went to the inside on the one-eighty corner, protect the line. I went outside, just slingshotted off the berm. I just went for it, wide open. Nick was forced to drift wide and give me the inside.”
After nearly 4 hours of enduring some of the best (some would say worst) things Bill Gusse can throw at a dirtbike racer, Bach was able to take the win by a mere 3 seconds after a gutsy pass just 30 seconds from the finish line.
“The second lap the race changes,” Bach said. “The ruts are deep, and the holes are nasty, and there’s big mud holes all of a sudden. The dynamic is just totally different than anything you race anywhere else.”
2015 OMA Nationals Series
40th Annual Moose Racing Moose Run
Fenton, Illinois
Results: October 25, 2015
Pro Class Top 5
1. Chris Bach
2. Nick Fahringer
3. Jimmy Jarrett
4. Steward Baylor
5. Brian Vaughn
Pro 2 Class Top 5
1. Mark Heresco
2. Chase Robinson
3. Jeremy Smith
4. Duell Murphy
5. Shane Klimek
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