The fifth round of the Women’s Motocross Championship (WMX) took place on Friday at Unadilla, and it might have been the best race of the year so far. Australian champion Charli Cannon is finally starting to ride like herself again after her finger surgery a week before the start of the season. Cannon was fastest in qualifying once again and found herself right behind series leader Lala Turner on the opening lap, and the race was on.
The two riders kept swapping out fast lap times, Cannon would make up some ground, only to bobble, even going off the track at one point. Then Turner would put in a heater only to get held up by lappers, who are particularly bad in the WMX where the level of talent falls off drastically from first to 20th.
While Turner dealt with traffic, Cannon kept digging. One the back of the track, Turner was quicker, but Cannon would answer back and close the gap on the front side near the start. It all came down to the last lap when the two swapped positions multiple times. A lapped rider made Turner hesitate just slightly, and Cannon pounced to take the lead. Turner quickly changed lines and swept back around the outside to reclaim the lead. They battle some more, with Cannon making another pass, then Turner answered again. In the final stretch before hooking back onto the start, Cannnon swept from outside to inside to get next to Turner, then nailed the inside of the turn that connects to the start to grab the lead. The raced across the line, and Cannon held on for her first win of the season.
“I had a really cool weekend," said Cannon to our Mitch Kendra. "It's definitely a step in the right direction. I started off P1 qualifying. And my first moto, wasn't a great start, but I got into second early on, and I had some really cool battles with Lala. And I felt really good on the bike. I was catching her in sections, so, you know, I put it all out there and passed her on the last lap to win the moto. So, that was a good confidence boost."
Lala Turner commented, "I couldn't really see where she [Cannon] was. So, it's kind of hard. And then the lappers kept slowing me down and then getting in my way. But that's all that's on me. I need to be better."
And she was better in the second moto, again getting into the early lead. Cannon did not have a great start but got into second, with everyone wondering if she would be able to run Turner down again. However, it was not to be as she had a big get off:
“So about mid moto, I came up to this step up and I hit a square edge on the very left side, and it just kicked me sideways. I didn't get over the step up enough and I cased it. The back flipped the other way, and I just went flying over the handlebars. Pretty much head first, shoulder, I cocked my leg backwards. [Laughs] But yeah, that ended up pretty much bending my whole bike up. My handlebars were bent, the front wheel felt off, my pipe's kind of all in shreds. But, yeah, I'm proud of myself, I got up as fast as I could to stay in second. It's [the crash] disappointing, but with the outcome, I'm happy.”
After Cannon crashed, Turner was able to ride unchallenged out front to go 2-1 for her fourth overall of the season. Turner described her day, "Yeah. The first moto, I was out front most of the race, besides the last lap. I don't know, there's not much to say, but I wasn't looking ahead. That's all my fault. And Charli was ripping. She got it done the first moto, and I capitalized for the second moto. We fixed some things and let ‘er hang." [Laughs]
Cannon was able to dig deep after her crash to stay in second ahead of Mikayla Nielsen in third. Nielsen sits third in points and is the only other rider besides Turner to have an overall win the season, at the opener at Fox Raceway. Nielsen commented after the race:
“Never been here before. So, it was kind of trying to learn the track and then the second qualifying had a big get off, so didn't really get to finish that practice. So, I was kind of a little unsure about the race. And then I kind of just struggled with bike setup the whole day and just was uncomfortable. But there are certain spots and places where I was trying to push it, but it just wasn't happening. Just kind of watch them to run away, which is not the best feeling. But I'm just happy to come in one piece after last weekend's crash. And then unfortunately, this weekend's crash. So, try and push it for that next round and get a little bike stuff better during the week and, yeah, come back better.”
The final round of WMX will be held at Budds Creek, where they will actually race three motos, two on the original WMX Friday schedule, and one on Saturday to make up for the moto that got rained out at Thunder Valley (all of Friday's riding at Thunder Valley was postponed due to rain, so the WMX raced one moto on Saturday). The final moto will be aired live on Peacock, for the third time this summer, which has been a big hit with the fans. Turner has a 24-point lead over Cannon, so it is likely she will go home with her second WMX title this weekend. But that doesn’t mean Cannon (or someone else) won’t get in there and mix it up for some exciting racing. There are hopes that this Unadilla first-moto duel was just the beginning!
