We touched on one interesting rally yesterday on MotorSportsTalk and another cool one is going on this week in Mexico - the Sonora Rally.
The Sonora Rally is a rally raid and even has a Dakar Challenge for motos, which was announced in February as the event was selected by ASO as a Dakar Challenge event. A qualified moto winner can earn a free entry into Dakar 2017.
The four-day off road rally runs in Sonora, Mexico from April 3 through the 7, and includes the San Luis Rio Colorado and Puerto Peñasco.
On day one, Mark Samuels led Ivan Ramirez by 11 seconds (3:20:43 to 3:20:54) with Steve Hengeveld and Quinn Cody also within three minutes. Todd Jergensen led the car-national 2WD class.
On day two, Cody took the stage way over Hengeveld (3:27:31 to 3:27.37) with Ramirez and Samuels third and fourth.
Through two days, Hengeveld has a 22 second lead over Cody (6:50:11 to 6:50.33) with Ramirez and Samuels third and fourth. All bar Cody of those four are Dakar Challenge participants.
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Here’s some early race images from the first couple days, which are fairly cool:
Beyond the challenge of riding the terrain, is the navigation and all the gadgets that make it happen. In this case, for the the motorcycles, it is a juggling act of eyes up and staying on course… (Photo: Boyd Jaynes, @theboydphoto)
Dakar Challenge rider Petr Vlcek (@wolfeyracing) stands out against the dry lake bed. (photo: Melissa Eickhoff @meickhoff)
Peaks like this proved to be the best and worst part of many of the riders’ day. (photo: Jason Adams)
“It was like driving on marshmallows out there!” - Dave Skyes, driver, No. 50 (Photo: John Rettie)
Jon Steinhilber, No. 57, checking in at the finish of the stage. (Photo: John Rettie)