2025 Rebelle Rally Field Update: DAY 2 Presented by Baja Designs
October 12, 2025 (Blair Junction, Nevada)
After a relatively straightforward Day 1, Saturday’s Day 2 Presented by Baja Designs marks the first Marathon Stage. This two-day stage is an extended loop starting at the Blair Junction base camp and leading to a self-camp night at the picturesque and unique historic mining town (population 7) of Belmont, Nevada. This tiny burg was once a thriving mining center, exploding to 2,000 people in the 1870s before dwindling down again.
Day 2 was a long day (10.5 hours) and more difficult (level 3 difficulty on a scale between 1 and 5) by design. After the first green checkpoint, teams had to make an important decision: take the shorter, steeper Ophir Pass or head farther north to Kingston Pass near Austin, Nevada. Competitors were faced with multiple X route decisions this day, and those decisions had to be made quickly to keep moving.
The first official scoring day built the teams’ confidence, but Day 2 would be a “beatdown,” Rebelle Rally Founder and Director Emily Miller said on the Rebelle Rally LIVE Presented by Toyota this morning, “But it’s a beautiful one.”
As the day went on, her prediction would prove to be on target.
“We knew it would be a tough day coming into it, especially compared to yesterday,” said Director of Scoring and Head Rally Judge Chrissie Beavis. “Day 1 was such a nice, easy, fast warmup and Day 2 was almost the exact opposite: technical navigation, multiple tricky passes. You could see it wearing on the teams and you could see them slowing down and making poorer decisions.”
At the beginning of the day, Beavis said, competitors would catch their mistakes early and correct them. By the end of the day, however, they were making mistakes they didn’t catch until too late. One sign Beavis noticed was that teams were heeding Miller’s advice to take a heading using their tools to understand precisely which route to take.
“Many of the teams seemed to be in a rush and started timing out of checkpoints, so they headed down roads that definitely weren’t the correct heading,” Beavis said. “Then we could see they started following other teams because they were tired and it was a tough afternoon.”
Day 3 won’t be quite as tricky as Day 2, Beavis said, but if competitors stay up too late and don’t get good sleep, that affects their cognition and performance. Typically, though, on Marathon nights teams tend to go to bed earlier and sleep later. It’s quieter, and the tents can be spaced out more. Scores for Day 3 will start to separate the teams who are focused on scoring in the top 10 versus those who are in the game to learn and have fun.
Day 2 Results
At the end of Day 2 competition, Team 128 (Susan Pieper and Elise Young) rose to the top of the 4×4 standings in their Warner Ineos Grenadier at 96 percent. Last year’s champs Nena Barlow and Teralin Petereit (Team 129) are a hair’s breadth behind them in their 2025 Jeep Gladiator. Within close reach, Team 122 (Tobi Hlavnicka and Caralina Carlson) and Team 131 (Karisa Haydon and Trista Smith) are sitting at 94 percent; both teams drive Ford Bronco Raptors.
In the X-Cross® class, 2024 champions Carey Lando and Andrea Shaffer (Team 200) navigated their 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid Touring to 92 percent accuracy to retain the top spot. Two-time champion driver Emme Hall and navigator Kendra Miller (Team 210) are currently in second place in their 2025 Subaru Crosstrek, and multi-year champion Rebecca Donaghe and navigator Rebecca Dalski (Team 205) are in third in a 2024 BMW X5 40i xDrive.
“On Day 1, we had a lot of tie scores in the top 10; there were multiple ties,” Beavis explained. “Now we don’t have any ties in the top 10. Day 2 really started to spread people out in a very interesting way. You can see those who are willing to keep up the pace are the ones who did the best. Others got in a rush and made mistakes because they hadn’t kept up.”
It’s fitting that Day 2 is sponsored by Baja Designs in its second year of partnership with the Rebelle Rally. Founded in San Diego by avid Baja 1000 motorcycle racer Alan Roach in 1992, Baja Designs started with an off-road motorcycle kit and evolved to include trucks and buggies down the road. Today, BD continues to lead the field with high-performance lighting, including many Rebelle Rally competitors. When visibility in challenging conditions is paramount, Baja Designs lights the way.
Learn more about Baja Designs and its passion for off-roading at bajadesigns.com.
Ways to Follow the 2025 Rebelle Rally
Fans can follow the Rebelle Rally live through the Rebelle Rally LIVE Webcast Presented by Toyota, starting Friday, October 10th. Daily broadcasts will be available via rebellerally.com, YouTube, and Facebook, featuring morning competition day previews, scoring updates, and evening recap shows. For real-time updates, live tracking, scores, daily recaps, team bios, and more, visit the rally’s official website and connect with the community on social media @rebellerally on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
