Glade, Johnson, Price, Sutherland complete Sonora Rally/Mexican 1000 double

Western Mexico was bustling with desert racing in the past fortnight as the state of Sonora hosted the World Rally-Raid Championship’s inaugural trip to the Americas with the Sonora Rally, immediately followed by the NORRA Mexican 1000 in neighbouring Baja California. Sonora alone was already a difficult race to complete, much less doing so followed by the Mexican 1000 the following week, but a quartet of racers were more than up for the task.

Matt Sutherland and Matthew Glade had a particularly busy two weeks as they ran both races as part of the Ultimate Ironman Challenge, organised by NORRA and Sonora Rally for those attempting double duty on their own. Sutherland won the Sonora Rally’s Malle Moto class (finishing second in the Road to Dakar) before backing it up with his second consecutive Mexican 1000 bike overall victory. Racing in Pro Rally, he set a total time of 21:54:05 (21:53:20 excluding penalties) to hold off Modern Open rider Cade Smith by thirty-five minutes while also beating his 2022 time by fifteen minutes. Glade finished fourth in Pro Rally and fourteenth overall, seven hours back of Sutherland.

With the Sonora Rally ending on 28 April while the Mexican 1000’s first day of racing was on the 30th, Ultimate Ironman Challenge participants took a shuttle van from the Sonora finish in San Luis Río Colorado to the 1000’s start in Ensenada on the 29th. Sutherland and Glade’s bikes reached their destination and received an expedited pre-race inspection process before heading out the next day.

Mike Johnson placed an impressive third overall and second in Pro Rally. While Johnson is no stranger to the Mexican 1000 and his Rally Comp company provides roadbook devices for riders there and at Sonora, the 1000 was just his second race with Chinese manufacturer Kove Moto after finishing third in Sonora’s National Enduro.

In the four-wheel realm, Sara Price‘s fourteenth overall secured the Evolution Stock Turbo UTV victory. A twenty-minute penalty narrowed the gap to second-placed Benjamin Crawford to twenty-one minutes, though that was still more than enough of a cushion for the victory. While Sutherland came one spot short of securing free admission to the 2024 Dakar Rally, Price claimed the Road to Dakar at Sonora for four-wheel vehicles after winning the National Car/UTV division. Price’s Sonora co-driver Jeremy Gray split time in the navigator’s seat at the 1000 with his daughter Saydiie Gray.

Price’s busy stretch continued when she followed up the 1000 by racing the Dos Mares 500 from La Paz to Cabo.

Like in bikes, the 2023 Mexican 1000’s overall victor in cars was a repeat as 2022 champion Steve Menzies, father of Baja star Bryce Menzies, went back to back.

Class winners

Cars

Bikes

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