Written by Ashlee Harris
The sixth round of the 2024 WMX series was held this past weekend at Baja Acres in Michigan in conjunction with the well-known Baja Brawl event. WMX racing took place on Monday, with a four-lap practice and two 15 minute plus two lap motos intermixed with amateur racing. This round saw a total of 18 entries and the notably tough sand track made for some great racing.
Moto one set up to be interesting right out of the gate as the number 301 of Jordan Jarvis (Yamaha) landed the last gate pick which saw her lining up all the way on the outside. When the gate dropped, Jamie Astudillo (#469 KTM) pulled the holeshot with Jarvis making a clean sweep around the outside of the first turn into second place and Kyleigh Stallings (#21 Kawasaki) in third. The first lap proved to be quite eventful as Jarvis passed Astudillo for the lead, Stallings made the pass into second, and the number 99 of Lachlan Turner (Yamaha) passed into third which pushed Astudillo back to fourth. Jarvis, Stallings and Turner were all wheel to wheel on the third lap when Stallings hit a tree and went down hard. This allowed both Astudillo and Sohpia Phelps on the number 56 Kawasaki to get around.
With what the paramedics later determined were most likely several broken fingers, Kyleigh remounted her Kawasaki machine and charged from behind into the fifth place position. After a fierce battle for a majority of the moto between the front runners of Jarvis and Turner, Jarvis ultimately took the checkers and the moto one win with Turner in second, Phelps third, Astudillo fourth, and Stallings a very close fifth.
Stallings took the holeshot in moto two, with Jarvis rounding the first turn again in second and Astudillo in third. Jarvis charged and was able to pass Stallings on the second lap while Turner moved herself into the third-place position. Turner fell on lap 5, pushing her back to fifth but only for a short time. By lap 6 she charged through both Astudillo and Phelps to move herself back into third.
Astudillo and Phelps had another battle on their hands for the entire 10 lap race, with Phelps finally making the pass on lap 9 moving her into fourth and Astudillo back to fifth. Stallings paced Jarvis for the entire moto--only hoping to make a podium with an injured hand--while Jarvis focused on limiting mistakes and doing her best to get away.
At the end, Jarvis again crossed the checkers in first, with a battered Stallings in second, Turner in third, Phelps fourth, and Astudillo fifth as the number #115 of Brianna Scheltema (KTM) closed in but couldn’t quite make the pass, leaving her in sixth.
There is no lack of excitement with women’s motocross racing. I’m sure we will see another great showing of talent by these young ladies during Round 7 of the WMX Series, which will be held in Pennsylvania during the Pastrana Pro Challenge at Pleasure Valley Raceway on September 28th-29th.
Overall Results:
