Race One

The first race on Saturday afternoon was a 15-minute moto, Cannon getting the hole shot and building a gap early, to lead from go to whoa. Meanwhile Turner was just ripping through the pack, coming from an average start, to be second by the end of lap one! From there, these two ended up riding their own race, finishing 1-2. Turner pushing hard, but Cannon just too good on the day. Team USA’s Jordan Jarvis battled arm pump and a super competitive third to seventh place pack to get her Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha machine on the podium.

Solid results from the rest of the U.S. crew. Team Captain Kyleigh Stallings took her Kawasaki Australia prepped ride to sixth, Mikayla Nielsen on her Honda Racing Australia machine finished seventh while KTM mounted Jamie Astudillo struggled with early damage to a roll off film, salvaging a ninth. These results enough to give Team USA a two-point lead after day one.

Race Two

Cannon got the start and the gap again with Turner back in mid pack, “LaLa” making it up to second place within less than a lap, truly one of the most impressive things of the weekend.

But for team USA, sadly, mistakes were the story of race two. This saw the two-point lead turn into a four-point deficit, three of the team crashing during the 20-minute moto.

Nielsen crashed early in the sand rollers but quickly recovered picking up her bike and taking off within eight seconds of hitting the ground, fighting back to sixth. Stallings had a tip over after a great start and slipped back to 12^th, finishing tenth and Turner crashed twice, hitting the ground hard in the first one, getting up still in second but visibly hurting, she tipped over again and dropped back to eighth. Even Cannon briefly hit the ground tipping over on the last lap, still comfortably leading her teammate Empire Kawasaki’s Taylah McCutcheon to a 1-2 Aussie finish. Jarvis closing quickly on McCutcheon after fighting back all moto from a bad start, Jarvis’s third and Astudillo’s seventh helping keep victory in sight.

Back in the paddock there was a mixture of somberness, frustration and steely determination across the faces of the team.  

Race Three

The last race fightback began in style with Stallings getting the holeshot, fighting off Cannon briefly. At the first timing sector the U.S. team was second, sixth, ninth, tenth, and 12th, with plenty of work to do. Riding as a team the girls fought back, actually getting briefly into the lead. Turner holding second, Jarvis third and Stallings in a fierce battle with McCutcheon for fourth, in fact there were battles everywhere across the top ten. All five U.S. riders and four Australians in the top nine. Every pass making a difference, every little mistake making a difference.

But in the end the difference that really mattered was Charli Cannon, finishing up a clean sweep and leading the Aussie team of Cannon, McCutcheon, Taylor Thompson, Madi Simpson and Madi Healey to the top step. Oi Oi Oi!  Great stuff, but I can tell you this Aussie sure felt his loyalties and emotions divided!

Some consolation for Turner second overall and Jarvis third overall taking home some individual honours.

Well done to Kyleigh, LaLa, JJ, KayKay, and Jamie, their moms and dads and of course Chris and Christina. Thank you, it was great fun covering your visit “Down Under”, you’ve all got a fan in me. 

Images Courtesy of Steve Hall

Images Courtesy of Pete Wolf