Sean Ross Wins 2026 ADV Cannonball Rally

The 2026 ADV Cannonball Rally started at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, on September 16 and finished eight days later in Monterey, California. Between the two coasts, riders faced eight overnight stops, 100 GPS checkpoints and one of the event’s defining requirements: no support crew.

The rally attracted 108 entries and sold out with a waiting list. Seventy-five riders ultimately started and 64 reached Monterey by the September 23 finish. Riders came from 26 U.S. states as well as Canada, Norway, England and elsewhere overseas.

When scoring closed, Sean Ross of North Carolina had won the rally aboard his BMW R1250GSA. Ross finished with 1,122 points, just 14 ahead of Utah rider Josh Skidmore.

Ross earned first-to-arrive bonuses on Days 1 and 3 and missed only four checkpoints during the entire eight-day event. He arrived at the Monterey finish at 4:03 p.m., 57 minutes before scoring closed. His performance combined speed with navigation, preparation and consistency.

A 14-Point Finish

The ADV Cannonball recognizes a single overall winner. Second place receives what the rally calls the Steak Knives, while the remaining riders are not formally ranked in finishing order.

This year those Steak Knives went to Skidmore, who accumulated 1,108 points.

The two riders spent much of the final day running only seconds apart, but a navigation error in the California coastal hills proved costly for Skidmore. He missed three 10-point checkpoints, including the finish checkpoint. Reaching any two of them would have produced enough points to win the rally.

The final day was complicated further by a wildfire in the same area that put at least one checkpoint out of reach.

The narrow margin illustrated an important part of the event: this isn’t simply about covering the distance. Riders must balance pace, route selection, checkpoint opportunities and the risk of taking on more than they can reasonably accomplish.

The Self-Rescue Philosophy

The ADV Cannonball describes its philosophy in two words: self rescue.

There is no sweep truck and no dedicated support crew following competitors across the country. Riders are expected to make their own decisions about preparation, tires, navigation, mechanical problems and how aggressively they pursue checkpoints.

GPS scoring is handled through an app on each rider’s phone. Riders know immediately whether they successfully reached a checkpoint, eliminating the need for separate scoring hardware or judges.

That self-reliance produced some of the rally’s most memorable stories.

Rider #1, who appeared in the 2025 event as “Captain Chaos,” returned this year as “The Stig,” this time on a KTM. After breaking a chain earlier in the event, he obtained an angle grinder from Home Depot, made the necessary repairs and went on to take the first-to-arrive bonus on Day 4.

His rally eventually ended after the KTM’s voltage regulator failed. Despite spending more than 24 hours trying to get back underway, a replacement could not be found in time.

Optional Extreme Checkpoints Raise the Stakes

Not every checkpoint required riders to leave the pavement. But for those willing to take on more, the rally included optional off-road sections and extreme checkpoints that could add both points and considerable difficulty.

Team Tiger Blood riders CJ Harris and Tattoo Dan provided one of the better examples near Moab. Following their own turn-by-turn directions after dark toward the extreme checkpoint at Chicken Corner, they eventually discovered that their directions had delivered them to the wrong side of the Colorado River.

The checkpoint was visible — on top of a roughly 1,000-foot cliff on the opposite bank.

Tattoo Dan subsequently received the Stegra.IO Prize, a gift certificate for a navigation app.

The extreme checkpoints continued to extract a price on the final day. Harris was pursuing one in the California hills when his chain failed. He had the motorcycle towed to a shop and tried to get back underway, but could not return to the rally in time for the awards banquet. Tattoo Dan made it to Monterey.

The optional sections illustrate the decisions riders face throughout the Cannonball. A rider can focus on making steady progress toward the overnight stop or pursue additional checkpoints that may involve difficult terrain, navigation uncertainty and the possibility of losing considerably more time than the checkpoint is worth.

Repairs, Breakdowns and Nights Outside

The off-road sections generated other stories of self-reliance.

Barry Crawford of Plymouth, Massachusetts, found himself in deep sand outside Moab aboard his Honda Transalp as daylight disappeared. Rather than continue, Crawford stopped for the night, fashioned a shelter from his motorcycle cover and slept alongside the bike, using the engine for warmth. He reached Moab at 8:33 the next morning and was back with the field in Las Vegas that night.

Justin Gutierrez faced a different problem while descending a technical off-road section toward Bakersfield. After dropping his BMW and puncturing a valve cover, he used aluminum epoxy from his tool kit to repair the bike on the mountain and continued riding. The repair held not only through the finish, but for his ride home to Washington State.

Gutierrez had earlier stopped on Cumberland Pass to gather tools and spare parts scattered across the road by another rider, costing him time while he still had a contender’s scorecard. He subsequently changed his goal and collected every paved checkpoint, earning the Checkpoint Crusher Award.

The diversity of machinery was also part of the story. Alexander Wicker entered the rally’s only scooter, a Yamaha XMAX 300. After it broke down following the Day 2 stop in Lexington, Kentucky, Wicker rented a U-Haul, arranged repairs and rejoined the rally three days later in Moab. He has already entered the 2027 event.

An International Field

Although the route stretched across the United States, the riders and rally community were decidedly international.

Janf, rider #72, flew in from Norway and competed aboard a BMW F800GS, earning the Baldinger Award for traveling the greatest distance to reach the starting line.

The award is named for Swedish rider and YouTuber Robert Baldinger, who participated in the 2025 rally. Baldinger could not attend this year but joined the start by FaceTime and is committed to returning for the 2027 U.S. rally.

Taylor Lawson, host of the ADV Cannonball Podcast, also came from Sweden and rode a Kove 450.

Canada supplied six riders, and all six made the finishers list. Three were members of Team Pyro FX — Andrew Brice, Aaron Brice and Moto Ed — who finished with identical scores and recorded their finishes within three seconds of one another. Luke Jankowski of Edmonton collected every dirt checkpoint and earned the Rough Rider Award, while Big Dan of Calgary and Stu Grimm of Squamish rounded out the Canadian finishers.

Two-Up and Two Weddings

Two teams also completed the event with passengers — the only two teams ever to ride the ADV Cannonball two-up.

Eric Smith and Liz, riding BMW R1250GSA #5, collected every paved checkpoint and earned the Checkpoint Crusher Award. Chris and Kathleen rode Yamaha Royal Star #69 while towing a trailer, becoming the only trailer-equipped rig ever to finish the rally.

The rally also produced two weddings.

The day after the finish, rider #49, known as Silky, returned to Las Vegas and married his bride at the Little White Chapel, with both wearing motorcycle helmets and his Cannonball motorcycle appearing in the photos.

Chris and Kathleen saw the wedding pictures while riding home, stopped at a chapel themselves and were married beside their Royal Star. After crossing the country two-up while towing a trailer, they returned home as husband and wife.

Looking Ahead to 2027

The ADV Cannonball is expanding in 2027 with rallies on two continents.

The U.S. event is scheduled for June 8–16, running from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon, with the finish in Astoria. Organizers describe the route as 4,047 paved miles through 11 states over nine days, with optional off-road sections.

The inaugural ADV Cannonball Europe follows September 1–8, running from Tarifa, Spain, to Skagen, Denmark. That event will cover as much as 5,000 kilometers through eight countries in eight days, again with no support crew.

For Ross, however, the 2026 rally carried meaning beyond the final score.

He specifically requested competition number 3 because it had been the racing number of his son Zack, who died in a motorcycle accident in 2024 at age 24. Ross had competed strongly in the 2025 rally before returning this year with Zack’s number on the front of his BMW.

He carried that number from Plymouth Rock to Monterey and ultimately onto the stage as the 2026 ADV Cannonball Rally winner.

Read the full ADV Cannonball press release.