Ciaran Naran is looking to complete a dream March. Two weeks after winning the Mint 400 Motorcycle Race, he hopes to add a Sonora Rally crown as well.
Things got off to a good start on Monday when he topped Stage 1. He initially beat Johnson by 1:16 before both got speeding penalties tacked on: Naran had a minute, while Johnson’s was more severe as he was given ten minutes. As a result, Naran earned himself a comfortable 10:16 gap to wrap Monday up.
“Had an epic day,” said Naran. “Some tricky navigation, a little bit of off-piste through smaller dunes, but overall an epic day. The Sonora desert has proven to be epic through Day 1.”
Kyle McCoy was third for bikes with a time of 3:40:25.
Penalties also shook up the Dakar Dreams challenge. Ryan Nariño initially finished behind Armando Alonso Morales for fourth, but the latter had a two-minute speeding penalty that caused them to swap places.
Of the 27 riders, only five—McCoy, Nariño, Alexis Raoux (eighth overall, second in Rally Enduro), Josiak Skagen (tenth overall), and Christophe Suberville (11th overall)—avoided getting penalized. Most were for speeding, though there were a fair share that missed waypoints or arrived late to the time control. Miguel Donovan had the misfortune of committing all three infractions, dropping him to 26th and last of the finishing bikes with 3:58:30 in penalties.
The Auto side wasn’t any cleaner as all eight entrants there was penalized in some way. Mike Shirley still scored the stage win, but only by four minutes after beating Jorge Cano by 18 on the special because of an 18-minute penalty for speeding; Cano got four minutes for the same reason.
Cano, a SCORE regular, is also the only driver competing for the Road to Dakar. While this means he isn’t fighting with anyone else for the free 2027 Dakar Rally registration, he needs to complete the race to get the reward.
Larry Trim, who mainly competes in NORRA, fell off the pace because his car didn’t have the proper cooling components.
Stage winners
Auto
| Class | Overall | Number | Driver | Total Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2WD | 7 | 207 | George LaMonte | 6:08:54 |
| 4WD | 8 | 208 | Larry Trim | 14:50:00 |
| UTV Modified | 6 | 205 | Kirk Kontilis | 6:06:52 |
| UTV Stock | 2 | 202 | Jorge Cano | 3:38:29 |
| UTV Unlimited | 1 | 206 | Mike Shirley | 3:34:19 |
Moto
| Class | Overall | Number | Rider | Total Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pro Moto | 1 | 21 | Ciaran Naran | 3:27:10 |
| Rally Enduro | 6 | 12 | Alan Mason | 3:50:56 |
Featured image credit: Ben Schmidt
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