Adolfo Alonso is one of eight riders competing in the Sonora Rally’s Dakar Dreams challenge, where the winner will have $10,000 from his 2027 Dakar Rally entry fees paid off by Sonora race organizers.

After taking the DD lead in Stage 2, Alonso has started to put some distance between himself and the rest of the field. He willed up a strong performance on Wednesday to win the Stage 3 bike overall, beating Mike Johnson by four minutes.

Alonso initially finished second behind Ciaran Naran. However, like on the second day, Naran was slapped with a 23-minute speeding penalty that relegated him to fourth behind Alonso, Johnson, and Rally Enduro winner Matt Lube. He would’ve fallen even further had Kyle McCoy, whom he placed ahead of by three minutes, not gotten five minutes for speeding as well.

Ryan Nariño sits second in Dakar Dreams, 13 minutes behind Alonso.

George LaMonte retired, meaning both non-UTV entries in Auto are now out. Mike Shirley topped the day for the category, but still trails Jorge Cano by 14 minutes due to his one hour of penalties. Cano, like Alonso, is competing for his 2027 Dakar ticket in the Road to Dakar.

Stage winners

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Total Time
2WD	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	DNF
UTV Modified	4	205	Kirk Kontilis	5:16:27
UTV Stock	2	202	Jorge Cano	4:58:35
UTV Unlimited	1	206	Mike Shirley	4:44:34

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Total Time
Pro Moto	1	2	Adolfo Alonso	4:42:59
Rally Enduro	3	14	Matt Lube	4:49:58

Overall leaders

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Total Time
UTV Modified	4	205	Kirk Kontilis	15:25:19
UTV Stock	1	202	Jorge Cano	12:09:12
UTV Unlimited	2	206	Mike Shirley	12:23:48

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Total Time
Pro Moto	1	8	Mike Johnson	12:02:41
Rally Enduro	5	14	Matt Lube	12:46:15

Featured image credit: WEST x 1000