Ciaran Naran is one of the top desert racers in Baja, helping Arturos Salas claim the 2024 SCORE Pro Moto Unlimited title among a bevy of other achievements. If he wanted to pursue a career in rally raid, there might be a place for him too.

Naran scored his first victory in the discipline at this past week’s Baja Rally, the only rally raid held on SCORE’s stomping ground of Baja California. He spent much of the race chasing defending winner Colton Udall before the latter struggled on the penultimate stage, which Naran capitalized on to take the lead and seal the win.

While races like the Baja 1000 are more his forte, Naran already had a little bit of rally experience prior to October. In February 2024, he entered the Swank Rally in Tunisia and ran as high as the top ten. With a month until the SCORE season reaches its climax (Naran and his #1X teammates Salas and Shane Logan are currently second in Pro Moto Unlimited points), he decided to stick around in Baja to try out the rally. Lyndon Poskitt, a former Dakar Rally competitor, sent Naran a Husqvarna FR 450 from Europe.

Naran and Udall were entered in the Rally Pro class, reserved for those who finished top three in Rally 1 at the 2024 Baja Rally, anyone who completed a W2RC or FIM-sanctioned rally stage, and those who placed top three as the rider of record in a SCORE event. While Salas is the RoR on the #1X, Naran was such when he was the top bike at the 2023 San Felipe 250.

Udall set the tone early by winning the first stage ahead of Jordan Strachan and Naran. Strachan, who made his Dakar debut in January, crashed out of the first marathon leg in Stage 3.

After Naran finished 55 seconds behind Udall in Stage 2, the two split the marathon. Stage 5 saw Udall’s repeat prospects go out hte window after making a navigation error and crashing, while Naran ran a trouble-free day to win by over 46 minutes.

Entering the final day, Naran led by 20 minutes. Udall couldn’t do much to close that gap, beating him by only 2:59.

Naran described the rally as “an epic week battling with the dirt bike enthusiast mastermind himself,” and plans to return in 2026. If Naran can repeat, he becomes the Baja Rally’s second multi-time overall victor after Baja legend Steve Hengeveld claimed three in a row from 2015 to 2017.

Being a rally held in one of the biggest desert racing hotbeds, Naran was not the only SCORE regular present. Scott Purcell, who has starred in SCORE’s Pro Moto Adventure class for rally bikes, won the Rally 1 category.

Alexis Raoux was the best rookie while Lance Webb was tops among riders over 55. Josiah Harvey won for Malle Moto.

The Baja Rally has been held since 2013. Willem Avenant, a contributor to 131 Off-Road, serves as race director.

Stage winners

Stage	Rider	Time
Stage 1	Colton Udall	2:56:34
Stage 2	Colton Udall	3:34:34
Stage 3	Ciaran Naran	2:38:24
Stage 4	Colton Udall	2:04:02
Stage 5	Ciaran Naran	5:13:51
Stage 6	Colton Udall	1:00:50

Results

Rally Pro

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Total Time	Margin
1	1	10	Ciaran Naran	17:58:12	Leader
2	2	1	Colton Udall	18:17:00	+ 18:48
3	24	11	Matt Ransom	DNF	N/A
4	30	3	Jordan Strachan	DNF	N/A

Malle Moto

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Total Time	Margin
1	4	72	Josiah Harvey	22:35:26	Leader
2	5	83	Greg Willitts	22:37:26	+ 2:00
3	11	80	Brian Goss	25:38:02	+ 3:02:36
4	18	82	Olof Sundstrom	37:04:41	+ 14:29:15
5	27	81	Digby Norris	DNF	N/A
6	31	78	Mark Johnston	DNF	N/A

Rally 1

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Total Time	Margin
1	9	25	Scott Purcell	24:43:45	Leader
2	10	32	Trevor Wall	25:28:21	+ 44:36
3	13	26	Jordan Dukes	26:29:00	+ 1:45:15
4	15	33	CJ King	27:41:48	+ 2:58:03
5	16	13	Jake Seff	30:36:39	+ 5:42:54
6	20	34	Eric Anders	50:26:00	+ 25:42:15
7	21	19	Harrison Jacobsen	69:10:01	+ 42:26:16
8	23	25	Scott Thornton	DNF	N/A
9	25	27	Ruby Ramlo	DNF	N/A
10	26	36	Vladimir Malyarevich	DNF	N/A
11	29	21	Alex Kachiaev	DNF	N/A
12	32	31	Tim Donaworth	DNF	N/A

Rookie

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Total Time	Margin
1	7	42	Alexis Raoux	23:31:24	Leader
2	14	12	Timur Urakov	26:50:31	+ 3:19:07
3	17	17	Donovan Marvin	35:40:50	+ 12:09:26
4	19	46	Emily Roberts	41:33:09	+ 18:01:45
5	22	47	Merlin Cormier	DNF	N/A

Senior

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Total Time	Margin
1	3	56	Lance Webb	22:22:27	Leader
2	6	57	Bill Gilbert	5:16:56	+ 52:41
3	8	62	Eric Perry	6:19:39	+ 1:55:24
4	12	20	Taylor Buck	7:51:10	+ 3:26:55
5	28	63	Jamie Emery	DNF	N/A

Featured image credit: Champ ADV / Baja Rally