Story: Rachel Gutish - Contributor - The Enduro Bureau
May 07, 2024

Josh TOth Takes Win #2 , Rachael Archer Remains Perfect

Heavy fog, torrential rain and rocky terrain greeted riders at The Red Line Oil Black Buffalo, round three of the National Enduro Promotions Group (NEPG) series. The event took place near Kingston, Arkansas at the Wilderness Rider Buffalo Ranch.

The Bottom Line Up Front

WHAT

In NE Pro1, Josh Toth (Enduro Engineering) took the class and the overall win. He was joined on the Pro1 podium by Grant Baylor (Babbits Online Monster Energy Kawasaki) and Steward Baylor Jr. (Rocky Mountain Red Bear Kawasaki).

Grant Davis (FMF KTM Factory Racing Landers) finished third overall and won his class by almost three minutes, keeping his perfect season intact. Hunter Bush (Reiner Pump GasGas) and Will Sievenpiper (Rocky Mountain Red Bear Kawasaki) both earned their first Pro2 podiums of the 2024 NEPG season.

In Women’s Elite, Rachael Archer (Rocky Mountain Red Bear Kawasaki) also kept her perfect season intact. Rachel Gutish (Sherco USA), returning to the series after missing round two, finished second, while Canada’s Shelby Turner (Enduro Engineering GasGas) finished third.

So What

We are now three rounds deep into the ten-round series. Toth is the only rider to have two overall wins, and currently holds the points lead over S. Baylor and G. Baylor, both of whom have yet to take a NEPG win this season. It is important to note that because Davis was a “spoiler” in the overall results and the Pro1 championship is awarded on an overall points basis not a Pro1 class basis, the points gap when looking at the overall vs class points is different – but it is my understanding that it is the overall points that matter.

Toth was tied with S. Baylor coming into round three, but with the latter getting pushed off the overall podium by Davis, it allowed Toth to amass a solid lead – he now has a 12 point gap. Davis is currently third overall, 2 points ahead of G. Baylor, while Evan Smith (Max Motorsports Husqvarna) rounds out the top five, only 5 points behind Baylor. Johnny Girroir (FMF KTM Factory Racing), turned in competitive results at the first two rounds of the series, but opted to not attend Black Buffalo this weekend, which effectively removes him from the points battle as the Pro1 class does not get drop rounds.

The points standings are not as close in the other two pro classes, as both points leaders have had perfect seasons and therefore amassed considerable leads. Davis has a 25 point gap over Nathanial “Bubz’ Tasha (AmPro Yamaha), –  enough to miss a race and still maintain the lead. Tasha had a rough weekend, finishing off the box in sixth place. Sievenpiper and Nick “T-Rex” Defeo (Babbits Online Monster Energy Kawasaki) are currently tied for third, 13 points down from Tasha. Defeo had a string of third place finishes, but a mechanical issue in the first test of the day dropped him down to tenth in Pro2 this weekend.

Archer has an equally substantial lead, 23 points over Turner, who in turn has a healthy 12 point lead over Brooke Cosner (Kawasaki). Gutish is in fourth, five points out of a podium position – but as the women do get a drop race, this current order could be shaken up a bit once the drop takes effect, assuming Gutish attends (and finishes) all the remaining rounds.

Now What

We have another month off before the next NEPG round, with a few GNCCs and USSE rounds in the meantime. The next round is The Cherokee NEPG in Greensboro Georgia, where riders can expect red clay, ruts, and oppressive heat – a very different environment than Black Buffalo.

The Full Story

This is the second year the Black Buffalo enduro has been on the NEPG series circuit, with the inaugural round taking place last year. Nestled in the Ozark mountains, near the Buffalo River National Park and the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest, the Wilderness Rider Buffalo Ranch is a gorgeous place to race. The ranch is a OHV park/campground as well as grazing area for a herd of buffalo, hence the name.

While everyone agrees that the landscapes are beautiful, quite a few people have differing views on the terrain, which consists of rock, rock and more rock. The rocks have a tendency to come loose and roll around, which means riders need to keep on their toes and be on the lookout for large, dislodged rocks that could easily take out a front wheel, which almost certainly were not present when the course inspector passed through that morning. If you enjoy technical riding though, you’ll count this as one of your favorite NEPGs this season. In addition to all of the rock, there were plenty of tree roots and small log crossings as well. Trails were mostly fast and flowy, without the sometimes painfully tight and slow sections you find at other enduros.

There was a massive downpour Saturday night, which left the trails wet and splashy. The rocks / hard clay base (mostly) prevented the course from getting too deep or chewed out, at least on the pro row range. It was especially foggy on Sunday morning, and with an additional downpour that struck halfway through the day for the pro riders, visibility was a struggle at several points during the day. The additional rain didn’t seem to negatively affect the trails though, as they were plenty slippery to begin with; if anything, the corner ruts seemed to get established better, and they would catch and hold you in place, as opposed to the flatter corners where it seemed like you’d slide around more and not track through the corner as well.

Davis opened the day strong, taking the first test win from the Pro2 class, edging out Toth by six seconds. Toth was second overall and first in Pro1 in test one, and would go on to win test two, four and six – both overall and in class. Both Baylor brothers were off pace in the first test, finishing approximately thirty seconds off the leader. By the second test G. Baylor had gotten within fifteen seconds of the test winner, and picked up the pace enough to win test three and test five, but ultimately it wasn’t enough to overcome Toth’s strong performances early in the day.

S. Baylor was consistently 15-20 seconds off the lead each day, but it was still enough for him to manage a third in class and fourth overall. Smith initially was close to and competitive with S. Baylor’s times, but lost over a minute to him in test five. Smith’s performance was enough for him to hang on to fourth in class and fifth overall – but not by much, as Ryder Lafferty (Coastal GasGas) was less than 20 seconds down from Smith at the end of the day.

“My day was solid, had a decent tip over in every test though, just hitting rocks I didn’t see. I tried to minimize mistakes and keep moving forward. The track was technical and challenging – a true enduro.” – Josh Toth

Davis ran away with the Pro2 race, taking the win by over three minutes and winning five of the six tests. However, the battle between Bush and Sievenpiper was close. Though Bush held the lead for most of the day, a bad fifth test saw him lose nearly forty seconds to Sievenpiper, and the battle ultimately came down to the final test – Bush took the win by eight seconds in the test, beating Sievenpiper by five seconds on the day. Jhak Walker (Factory Beta USA) and Ryan Piper (Team Sakai KTM) rounded out the top five.

Archer won the Women’s Elite race by a comfortable margin despite a crash in test three. She put a minute and twenty seconds on runner-up Gutish, a minute of which came from the first test where Gutish said she “struggled to get out of her head and out of her own way”. Gutish was able to take a single test win, but that wasn’t nearly enough to make up the gap. Meanwhile, Turner and Gutish went back and forth a bit throughout the day, but ultimately Gutish pulled roughly a minute-twenty gap on Turner, who placed third. Regardless, all three of the top three women were flying, with most of their tests breaking the top-30 O/A mark. Cosner placed fourth on the day, and Prestin Raines (Bonecutter Sherco) rounded out the top five.

“I had a great day. Other than a hard crash in test three I had a lot of fun in the rain!”

-              Rachael Archer

Results

PRO 1
1st            Josh Toth
2nd           Grant Baylor
3rd            Steward Baylor Jr. 
4th            Evan Smith
5th            Ryder Lafferty

PRO 2
1st            Grant Davis
2nd           Hunter Bush
3rd            Will Sievenpiper
4th            Jhak Walker
5th            Ryan Piper

WOMEN’S ELITE

1st            Rachael Archer
2nd           Rachel Gutish
3rd            Shelby Turner
4th            Brooke Cosner
5th            Prestin Raines

Series Standings

PRO 1
1st            Josh Toth
2nd           Steward Baylor Jr. 
3rd            Grant Baylor
4th            Ryder Lafferty
5th            Evan Smith

PRO 2
1st            Grant Davis 
2nd           Nathanial “Bubz” Tasha
3rd            Will Sievenpiper
4th            Nick “t-rex” Defeo
5th            Hunter Bush

WOMEN’S ELITE
1st            Rachael Archer
2nd           Shelby Turner
3rd            Brooke Cosner
4th            Rachel Gutish
5th            Prestin Raines