Photo credit: High RPM Photo / Kyle Jolly
Nick Fahringer Claims Grassman Enduro Overall
Landon Beatty Secures Overall A, Luke Barto Takes Overall B
The second round of the 2026 ACES season and the opening round of the Ohio Off-Road State Championship was held in Chandlersville, Ohio.
For the second year in a row, Ohio Woods Riders got hammered with over 1.5 inches of rain on Saturday afternoon and evening. This turned a long enduro essentially into a survival run. The club shortened the course by dropping the A-AA Test 6 and made the 12.5-mile Test 5 an A-AA only section.
The first 5-mile test was tight and technical, with a slippery bridge about a mile in that even took out some trail blazing club members. KTM 2-stroke AA rider Mike McGinnis won the first test at 14m 34s over Beta’s Zach Klamfoth by half of a second.
The transfer to Test 2 included two off-road sections, the first of which was a 2.5-mile super-technical trail transfer with ups and downs that had everyone puckered up. Test 2 was a 10.5-mile section of varied trail types, including rocky creeks, off-camber roots, cow trails, deep ravines and punchy hills. Test 2 ended the day for many riders, with a number of hillclimbs that became prize fights after the Saturday deluge. Muddy, rooty, rutted single-track climbs were littered with bikes for hours. Sherco’s 250F mounted Nick Fahringer and Mike McGinnis both cleaned Test 2 in the 33 minute window. Fahringer got McGinnis by just 26 seconds before heading to gas available #1. Klamfoth had to retire in Test 2 with a mechanical issue.
Test 3 was 8.5 miles and had a rocky and surprisingly dry spectator hill about 1.5 miles in that changed the day for many. McGinnis was on the pipe but got caught up in the gnarliest of rock lines at the top of the hill, costing him around 90 seconds. Fahringer, the hard-enduro specialist, wheelied up the rock faces like he was riding a gummy-tired trials bike. Super technical downhills and hard-enduro type big-rock creek bottoms made the last 2 miles of Test 3 a hard-fought battle. Fahringer won Test 3 over McGinnis by 74 seconds.
Test 4 was 10.5 miles and the last test for all but the A-AA guys under 60. The test started out with 2 miles of off-camber, rooty trail followed by some deep-woods creeks, ravines and steep hills. The normally fast and flowy section turned into a battle of single-line hillclimbs, and steep ruts coming up out of steamy rocky-creek valleys and deep woods. The last 3 miles of Test 4 was fast and ripping as Fahringer cleaned the test in 36 and a half minutes. McGinnis was just 68 seconds back.
At 12.5 miles, A-AA Test 5 was very wet and unforgiving. The first 3 miles of trail had slimy flood-plain bottoms in deep woods, with steep and rooty climbs that led up to tight hillside single-track. Once crossing the semi-trailer-flat-bed-creek-bridge, the racers had some flowing tight trails interrupted with steep and slick downhills, and a few long full-tilt climbs. Fahringer edged out McGinnis with a 40m 58s, while McGinnis carded a 41m 54s.
Fahringer took the Overall with 153m 16s, while McGinnis landed 2nd with 155m 58s. Honda-mounted Tom Truxell landed third in AA after a long muddy battle.
Husqvarna mounted Landon Beatty from the 0-250cc A class took third overall and landed the Overall A spot, while Luke Barto landed the Overall B finish coming out of the Open B class.
Report by Kory Young, OWR
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