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It was diverse group of competitors, with experiences ranging from the Isle of Man TT to a brave Oregon husband and wife team Paul and Laura Fournier who had driven down in their modified Subaru hatchback. Both the Subaru and the rally’s only UTV, a Polaris RZR 1000 driven by Joe Bolton, completed the challenging event.

The race started in Mexicali with two short stages that combined fast roads, fun scenery and beautiful dunes. Day two featured a 165-mile loop starting on sandy trails outside of San Luis, Sonora then ran near El Golfo before finished once again in the rally’s specially created bivouac. The third day was spent heading back into Baja, running some of the more famous roads before racers got a well-deserved checkered flag and an awards celebration outside of Ensenada at Horsepower Ranch.

For Scott Bright and Mike Johnson, however, the adventure wasn’t over. They went on to complete the Cortez Challenge by finishing the following day’s NORRA Mexican 1000. After competing for eight long and consecutive days, Johnson reached the tip of Baja in San Jose del Cabo and took home both the Mexican 1000 overall motorcycle victory and the first Cortez Challenge trophy.

“The overall feed back has been better than we could wish for,” added Skilton. “Not only did we hear great comments about the course, the bivouac and the spectacular beauty of the dunes, but when you hear someone of Quinn's caliber say at the finish of the second day, ‘Of all the Dakar racing I have done, I have never done a stage with 80 miles of dune crossing.' You start to realize you have created something special.”

"Our goal next year is to bring all our friends who are competitors from Europe as well as North America," concluded Skilton. "We want to continue bringing this style of discipline and racing to North America, while also exposing the world to the unique terrain, spectacular scenery and the great people of Baja and Sonora, Mexico." NORRA.com