2023 Sonora Rally: Brendan Crow wins National Enduro

Brendan Crow wasn’t planning to run the Sonora Rally at first but changed his mind in early April just weeks before the race. That turned out to be one of the best choices he could have ever made as he won the National Enduro class and was the best finishing bike in general of the National entries.

While the decision to take part came on short notice, leaving him with just three weeks to prepare compared to the roughly seven months in 2022, Crow played a masterful performance as he won by nearly an hour and twenty minutes over Francisco Alvarez. He also minimised errors to just ten minutes of penalties for speeding.

Crow scored the most stage wins with three, taking the Prologue and Stages #1 and #4, while Alvarez claimed the last. Ashley Thixton, the only other multi-time victor, placed fifth overall after having to overcome penalties and a Stage #4 crash.

“Funny that it was completely different from last year even though it was only 6 months ago,” wrote Crow. “Learned even more this year and lookin forward for more!”

Although not winning, Alvarez still claimed the Road to Dakar to receive free registration for the 2024 Dakar Rally. Crow had won Sonora’s RtD in 2022 by finishing third overall; while he did not redeem the spot to race at Dakar 2023, he is ineligible to repeat as a former winner.

Matt Sutherland joined Crow and Alvarez on the overall podium and was the only other rider to finish within two hours of the winner. Sutherland competed in the Malle Moto class for riders without assistance from teams. He and Alvarez were among seventeen Road to Dakar riders.

When limited to strictly Enduro competitors, third place is held by Mike Johnson who overcame an early clutch issue and having to race with stock suspension due to the original tuned setup being seized by customs. Johnson, the owner of Rally Comp which supplied metering devices for bikes at Sonora, raced for Chinese manufacturer Kove Moto in just their second World Rally-Raid Championship start; his team-mates Neels Theric and Sunier rode in the W2RC-sanctioned Rally2 division, the former also finishing fourth overall in his class. After Sonora, Johnson and Sutherland will immediately head to the neighbouring state of Baja California to take part in the Mexican 1000; Sutherland and Matthew Glade, who finished nineteenth overall, are part of the Ultimate Ironman Challenge for solo riders doing both events on their own.

Ben Howard, the only adventure bike rider in the sea of enduro bikes, placed thirtieth overall. Adventure bikes like his Yamaha Ténéré 700 are lager and heavier than their enduro counterparts.

“It was crazy from start to finish,” recapped Jordan Dukes, a rally raid newcomer making his Sonora début. “The drive down, crossing the border into Mexico, getting to know other competitors, learning how to use the navigation equipment, sharing the course with Legendary riders, support staff, and the course.

“Everyday had new challenges. The terrain was challenging, the heat and the distance was overwhelming.  

“In the first 10 kilometers of the first day I crashed 3 times and realized I was in over my head. 1200 kilometers of racing with 2200 total bike kilometers in 6 days. Dozens of get offs, countless near life experiences, and a few broken parts.”

National Enduro overall results

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Time	Margin
1	513	Brendan Crow	Brendan Crow	16:37:36	Leader
2	526	Francisco Alvarez	Freedom Rally Racing	17:56:38	+ 1:19:02
3	501	Matt Sutherland #	Matt Sutherland	18:24:08	+ 1:46:32
4	543	Mike Johnson	Kove Moto	19:46:22	+ 3:08:46
5	526	Ashley Thixton	Freedom Rally Racing	19:46:59	+ 3:09:23
6	539	Ben Lauderdale	Diespro Adventour	20:00:38	+ 3:23:02
7	507	Lance Webb	Team 150 Racing	21:10:32	+ 4:32:56
8	506	Scott Thornton	Team 150 Racing	21:27:18	+ 4:49:42
9	532	Ronald Venter	Freedom Rally Racing	21:39:54	+ 5:02:18
10	517	Devon Mahone	Devon Mahone	22:29:08	+ 5:51:32
11	540	Gavin Ferguson	M2 AV Consulting	22:42:17	+ 6:04:41
12	515	Digby Norris	Triple F Racing	23:21:12	+ 6:43:36
13	529	Gregorio Martos	Freedom Rally Racing	23:45:22	+ 7:07:46
14	519	Douglas Zacaras	Douglas Zacaras	23:50:42	+ 7:13:06
15	511	Mario Mendoza	Mario Mendoza	27:35:43	+ 10:58:07
16	542	Paul Mumford #	Paul Mumford	32:01:13	+ 15:23:37
17	516	Bryan Pederson	Bryan Pederson	38:27:44	+ 21:50:08
18	523	Jatin Jain	Diespro Adventour	39:17:28	+ 22:39:52
19	508	Matthew Glade #	RallyMotoShop	47:36:44	+ 30:59:08
20	502	Billy Trapp	M2 AV Consulting	50:04:34	+ 33:26:58
21	510	Hector Guerrero #	Mocedi Racing Team	51:38:03	+ 35:01:27
22	530	Henry Cubides	Freedom Rally Racing	54:36:38	+ 37:59:02
23	533	Dwain Barnard	Freedom Rally Racing	55:36:48	+ 37:59:12
24	537	Donald Hatton	Freedom Rally Racing	59:14:21	+ 42:36:45
25	541	Mike Myers	M2 AV Consulting	68:04:49	+ 51:27:13
26	521	Benjamin Myers #	Benjamin Myers	71:32:47	+ 54:55:11
27	538	Miguel Donovan	Geek Racing	80:42:00	+ 64:04:24
28	514	Vladimir Malyarevich #	Vladimir Malyarevich	81:03:07	+ 64:25:31
29	536	Jordan Dukes	Off Piste Adventure	81:47:37	+ 65:10:01
30	528	Ben Howard #^	Ben Howard	86:41:40	+ 70:04:04
31	518	John Suvanto	John Suvanto	88:05:05	+ 71:27:29
32	505	Ryan Nariño	Ryan Nariño	104:58:31	+ 88:20:55
33	534	Andreu Miró	Andreu Miró	105:56:36	+ 89:19:00
34	520	Alexander Kachaev #	Alexander Kachaev	119:10:28	+ 102:32:52
DNF	503	Matthew Ransom	Off Piste Adventure	DNF	N/A
DNF	531	Étienne Gélinas	Freedom Rally Racing	DNF	N/A
DNF	527	Juan Recio	Freedom Rally Racing	DNF	N/A
DNF	504	Patrick Reyes	Patrick Reyes	DNF	N/A
DNF	509	Weston Carr	High Desert Adventures	DNF	N/A
DNF	524	Sebastián Olarte	Diespro Adventour	DNF	N/A
DNF	522	Tibi Imbuzan	Tibi Imbuzan	DNF	N/A
DNS	535	Luke Stalker	Off Piste Adventure	DNF	N/A
DNS	512	John Henson	Henson Factory Racing	DNF	N/A

National Enduro stage winners

Stage	Rider	Time
Prologue	Brendan Crow	46:24
Stage #1	Brendan Crow	2:33:03
Stage #2	Ashley Thixton	2:12:10
Stage #3	Ashley Thixton	5:24:43
Stage #4	Brendan Crow	3:47:26
Stage #5	Francisco Alvarez	1:33:46

Overall winners

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Time
T1	201	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Toyota Gazoo Racing	10:29:55
T3	302	Mitch Guthrie	Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team	11:17:24
T4	400	Rokas Baciuška	Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing	11:51:05
RallyGP	18	Daniel Sanders	Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing	11:01:09
Rally2	17	Romain Dumontier	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing	11:48:21
Rally3	57	Massimo Camurri	Freedom Rally Racing	15:59:16
Quad	162	Laisvydas Kancius	AG Dakar School	15:33:14
National Car/UTV	605	Sara Price*	SP Motorsports	17:14:04
National Enduro	513	Brendan Crow*	Brendan Crow	16:37:36
National Malle Moto	501	Matt Sutherland*	Matt Sutherland	18:24:08