Before Saturday’s Pro races, Crandon track president Jason Flannery bestowed upon Bark River’s leadership a Golden Boy lever-action rifle made by Henry Repeating Arms. Engraved on the stock is the Bark River International Raceway logo and “Cheers to 50 Great Years!”.

“We sat, my dad and my son the other night, we’re like, ‘Hey, what are we going to do for these guys?’,” Flannery explained. “50 years is something to be proud of. Two of the smallest towns in the countries have the best off-road races in the world.”

Bark River race director Scott Kwarciany and media head Scott Palmgren accepted the rifle.

The 2026 Island Resort and Casino Off-Road Rumble in the UP marked the golden anniversary for Bark River. The Upper Peninsula track began life with the UP Off-Road 100 on August 1, 1976, which was organized by the Bark River Lions Club after seeing the success of the Brush Run at Crandon in neighboring Wisconsin. After starting out with a five-mile track running through the forests, the race’s success led to the creation of a proper short course that became BRIR.

“Look where 50 years has gotten us,” Kwarciany stated. “This facility and the fans and the sponsors and the volunteers from the Bark River Lions Club, this is what has been built. It has taken so much work and so much effort, but it has been a labor of love the whole way.”

Various festivities took place to celebrate the anniversary, the most notable of which was the return of the Long Jump Contest on Friday. It was last held in 2006, when the late Rick Huseman notably landed on his rear bumper while going 181 feet. The record during the original run was 190 feet by Jerry Whelchel.

Now back as the Richard Ault Legacy Long Jump, the format was pretty straightforward: participating drivers took the green flag at the finish line before looping around the large hairpin. The jump took place at the largest ramp leading into the final three corners. That didn’t mean it was easy, though; Pro SxS driver Leland Thyes jumped over the dirt cushion and let go of the gas, though he still called it a “cool experience”.

Like the .22 long rifle ammunition that the Golden Boy fires, CJ Greaves went hard and fast. He and Pro 4 classmates Jimmy Henderson and Mickey Thomas were the only drivers to break the 200-foot mark, with Greaves going the furthest at 210 ft. Greaves earned both a trophy and $6,000 cash prize.

Connor Barry won the contest’s second division with a 181-footer ahead of Michael Funk, while Cash LeCroy and Markus Catlin tied for third; LeCroy’s 171 feet was the best of any side-by-side driver. Scott Boulanger topped Division 3 with Braden Beauchamp and Ronald Kosciesza right behind.

Even those who had a tough going in qualifying for mechanical reasons like Keegan Kincaid and Diesel Shanak were able to get their trucks sorted out in time and take part.

“They grouped us in with the race trucks and they smoked us all,” Pro Am SxS’ Carson Hill quipped. He went 122 feet, best of the ten UTVs in his divsion.

Once that fun was out of the way, it was race time. Unfortunately for Greaves, despite his Pro 4 points lead and hitting 200 career wins here last year, he wasn’t the Golden Boy this time around. In fact, he ended up getting four points deducted for contact with Cole Mamer as they slid through the turn on Sunday.

The Greaves were understandably displeased with the ruling, especially as it came days after the race. Comparisons could be made to similar side-by-side encounters, including one on Saturday where Mamer and Henderson ran wide. Henderson was pushed into the grass and destroyed a Brunt Workwear flag as he tried to rejoin the course, only to collide with Greaves and be taken out.

In the meantime, his father Johnny shined. After setting a 191-ft long jump, the old man proved he still has plenty of gas as he held off Mamer to win on Saturday. Thomas lost the win to a mechanical issue while leading but salvaged a third.

“I don’t know where that came from. I mean, front row start? Honestly, this morning, I had the butterflies again like I did 20 years ago,” the older Greaves commented. “I’ve been coming here 38 years to this race track. Never did I think I would win a Pro 4 race now.”

While coming up short on Saturday, Thomas returned with a vengeance on Sunday. With CJ mired in the aforementioned drama, Thomas led every lap to win and get himself back into the Pro 4 title hunt. Following the younger Greaves’ penalty, Henderson now leads the Pro 4 standings going into the penultimate round at Crandon with 579 points to Greaves’ 574 and Thomas’ 571.

Greaves couldn’t get it done in Pro SxS either. Instead, Jeb Bootle had as good of a weekend as it got by sweeping both races in Pro SxS and Pro Stock SxS. He had to work for the Sunday win in the latter, fending off Collin Truett in the closing two laps. Bootle beat Greaves in each of the Pro SxS events.

“It’s not easy when you’re holding off one of the best in the sport. He had me pushing every lap to the limit,” Bootle said.. I definitely tested what that car can do and it’s impressive.

“I’m just so happy. We could never break the three-podium streak in a weekend, so we always had one race go bad. To be able to do four wins at my favorite track—these people put on a great track, they do awesome maintenance—and to be able to do it for the 50th is awesome as well.”

Gavin Plummer missed the weekend due to damage to his Pro SPEC. Wesley Vande Voort tried to help out by giving a spare transmission, but Plummer couldn’t get the truck ready in time. Vande Voort himself would run into trouble when a part on his Mod Kart’s engine failed while leading on Friday, but he rebounded strong with his first Pro class podium by finishing third in Pro SPEC on Sunday.

Class winners

Pro

Class	Saturday	Sunday
Pro 4	Johnny Greaves	Mickey Thomas
Pro 2	Ryan Beat	John Holtger
Pro Lite	Connor Barry	Matt Wood
Pro SPEC	Nick Visser	Dylan Parsons
Pro Buggy	Mark Steinhardt	Jaden Uribe
Pro SxS	Jeb Bootle	Jeb Bootle
Pro Stock SxS	Jeb Bootle	Jeb Bootle

Sportsman

Class	Friday	Saturday
Pro Am SxS	Code St. Peter	Bryce Powers
Pro Am Turbo SxS	Rory Navin	Rory Navin
Super Stock Truck	Nick Byng	Scott Boulanger
Stock Truck	Colt Wierzba	Keegan Kemp
Sportsman SxS	Chad Emling	Jaxson Cleereman
1600 Single Buggy	Michael Seefeldt	Connor Schulz
1600 Light Buggy	Evan Hockers	Evan Hockers
Mod Kart	Lincoln Mandsager	Lincoln Mandsager
Short Course Kart	Miles Pakenham	Quinton Mocco
Youth SxS	Alexander Walraven	Alexander Walraven
570 SxS	Miles Pakenham	William Holtger
200 SxS	Gaborik Geyen	Gaborik Geyen
170 SxS	Jersey Kleikamp	Jersey Kleikamp

Featured image credit: Bark River International Raceway