For the 2022 edition, the race started in Hermosillo once again.
The race route would take us north for 5 days all the way to San Luis Rio Colorado.
I have to admit, I went into Sonora fairly beat, coming off of the back of 5 days of solid prep, having just finished the Cotah and then Baja 6 Days rallies.
Nevertheless, I was very excited to be in Hermosillo again and to get going.
As with the Cotah and the Baja I was with Freedom Rally Racing. Myself, Jordan, and David had prepped the bikes, and while David was doing Sonora malle mote, Jordan was now part of the team as a rider, and not support (see Baja article).
Also on the team was John Suvanto (fellow Trifecta attempter from Cotah and Baja), Yuvi Jasti a friend of mine from South Africa, Clayton Zimmerman the rookie from Kansas, Matt Ransom a veteran Sonora rider, Etienne Gelinas from Canada and Sonora first timer, as well as veteran rally rider Nathan Rafferty. We were supported by a full team complement of Brett Epp, Slade Robinson, Mike Georgeson, Kenny Schipper, Elizabeth Saarela, Ashton Spears and el hefe, Robert the Mann……. the dream team.
Most of the team met up at the border town of Nogales and convoyed together down to Hermosillo with the Sonora Rally caravan, a roughly 285km trip due south.
The next day was registration, scrutineering, and tech, after which we all had an early night before the race proper started.
Stage 1
🚩➡️Hermosillo - Bahia Kino 🏁🔚⛺
📏267 km
It was a very fast and dusty day. We headed south and then west to Bahia Kino. It was a fairly uneventful stage for me, and everything went well. I had my first taste of what I call a “Mexican cattle grid”.
Where I come from, cattle grids are steel beams laid across an open concrete pit, covering the entire pit.
What I learned in Mexico, is that cattle grids are not the same around the world.
When I see a cattle grid in the roadbook, I normally don’t slow down when I approach it I will, more often than not, set up for a jump and for something narrow, but that's it.
The first cattle grid I crossed over in Mexico, I survived by pure LUCK. Turns out (maybe not all, but the ones I saw), they are just open concrete pits, with 2 “tracks” running across them.
Whether you are on a bike or in a car, you have to either cross the pit precisely on the 2 tracks or you have to jump it, otherwise, your day will end very badly
I managed to carry enough speed that I could jump the first one. Needless to say, after that first scare, I slowed right down for cattle grids………
We had an amazing bivouac, right by the sea, with dinner and race briefing on the water, it was magical.
Stage 2
🚩➡️Bahia Kino - Caborca 🏁🔚⛺
📏277 km
We headed north and followed the sea of Cortez for a good part of the stage before veering off to finish in Caborca.
At the start of the special in the morning, we were overwhelmed by ladies selling locally-made
trinkets.
There were some wide open riverbeds on the stage, I hit my foot on a stump hidden in the riverbed. Unfortunately, it was my “bad” foot. I had broken my ankle on my right foot and have some hardware in my ankle. I hit the stump with my foot at high speed, and I immediately felt something shift inside my ankle. It was excruciating, and I just hoped it was not broken again.
The last section of stage 2 was also a riverbed. Here, just before the finish line, Sarah Price in her UTV passed me, and I had to follow their dust for the last few kilometers to the finish line.
Jordan pulled up at the finisline after my, missing his seat and having a broken tower. Ettiene also showed up, shaken up and bruised at the finishline after an off.
The hotel we stayed at in Cabarco had a great pool, and the food that evening was out of this world.
Stage 3
🚩➡️Cabarco - El Golfo 🏁🔚⛺
📏457 km
By far my favorite and fastest stage of the race for me, the longest stage as well. Wide open fast sandy roads all day long.
Being the longest stage, we had 2 refuels in the special. We also had our first taste of very small dunes.
The stage was just so much fun, just the right mix of speed, sand, navigation, etc, to make it the perfect stage.
We had a long (180km) liaison from the end of the special to El Golfo, on tarmac, but the quality of the stage was so worth it, that nobody seemed to mind the long liaision. At one of the liaison refuels I stopped with Clayton to have a chicken burger and chips (fries), just to refuel the body, and then we continued our liaison.
Stage 4
🚩➡️El Golfo - El Golfo 🏁🔚⛺
📏183 km
The big dune day, loop around El Golfo in the Altar Desert.
Early in the stage, I came across Matthew Sutherland and Ace Nilson. Matt had had a crash and had a huge laceration in his groin. There was not much I could do to help them so I headed off. Not long after I left them, disaster struck, my clutch stopped working and I could not get the bike into gear.
This happened to be not too far from Ace and Matt, so I decided to hike back through the dunes and relieve Ace, so he could carry on with this race.
The cavalry arrived in the form of a 4x4 van alongside Darren Skilton (event organizer) and another truck. Matt was loaded into the van to be taken to the closest ambulance.
It was a rough/busy day out in the dunes, with plenty of broken-down bikes and struggling riders. Darren soon had to move on, and I stayed behind with the other support truck and Luis. We managed to load my bike on the back, and I ended up riding Matt’s bike back to the bivouac.
That night we fixed the clutch, and albeit being disappointed I was excited for the last stage of the rally.
It proved to be a rough day for Freedom as well. Yuvi Jasti had a tumble and broken his collarbone, while Matt Ransom’s Yamaha had given up the ghost. Even though it was a rough day for the team, spirits in the bivouac remained high, a sign of true rally rais spirit and a good team working together.
Stage 5
🚩➡️El Golfo - San Lui Rio Colorado 🏁🔚⛺
📏148 km
I managed to get to San Luis, but not in the manner I had hoped.
Given my problem the previous day, I started last. While being mindful that you can never make time up in a rally, starting in the back, you end up passing quite a few people.
Soon I caught up with a big group of guys and we rode together for a while until the gaps between us became bigger.
After some good-sized dunes, we had a 15km off-piste section on cap heading 19°.
It seemed fairly open, so I started going faster. I recall thinking “ this is great riding” and then BOOM, a big drop out of nowhere, with a huge mound of soil and camel grass in the middle of it.
I hit it at high speed and had a proper crash. I recall lying on my back and doing mental “checks”. Can my feet move? Can my arms move? Can I turn my head? What's my name/ etc.
Etienne Gelinas was behind me and first on the scene. He helped me get my bike out of the way (thanks Etienne), so that other riders do not crash into me/us, and that's when I realized I am not OK.
The back of my shoulder was sore and made a weird crunching sound when I moved it. I also could not see properly. I could see the roadbook, and the colours, but could not read the instructions.
Since it was not a life or death emergency, I hit my “Rider down” and Medical non-emergency buttons on the Rally Comp to let the Orga know I am injured but don’t need a chopper, sent everybody that stopped by on their way, found some shade under a bush, and waited for the recovery.
Help arrived in the form of Luke Bennet (from ICO) and Mike Shirley (from Rally Navigator), who did a lot to raise my crushed spirit.
And so, after 3 rallies and 16 rally stages, I did not manage to cross the finish line of the last stage, but that's why it's a rally.
Disappointment only turns into resolve, at least for me.
I don't recall much of the final evening, as I was quite concussed. I do recall a trip in a Mexican ambulance to the hospital, and meeting my buddy Brett Fox in the bed next to me with an injured foot.
I managed to get home in one piece, and it transpired that I had broken my shoulder blade, hurt my neck, and had a concussion, other than that I was all good.
I was supported for Sonora (as with Baja and Cotah rallies), by Freedom Rally Racing, my official racing partner/support in the US.
They did a fantastic job, and are the one-stop shop if you are thinking of doing a US rally.
If you are keen to do any US rallies, let me know or contact Freedom directly.
Thank you Freedom Rally Racing, what a ride it was !!!
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