Hangtown may have been the second round of Pro Motocross, but it was the first round of the Women’s Motocross (WMX) Championship powered by Synchrony. After months off from professional competition (Budds Creek 2025 to be exact) it was clear the women have raised the bar even more during Friday’s practice sessions. The WMX race schedule for 2026 features one moto held on Friday and the second motos during intermission on Saturday in front of the fans. With the track being significantly rougher on Saturday during pro day.
Moto one on Friday saw returning champ Lachlan Turner get out to the early lead and start to check out...only to go down at the start of lap two! She then had to work her way up to leader Charli Cannon. Then Cannon went off the track, and was later docked a position for getting on the gas too hard while off the side of the track. On the last lap, Turner pulled off an impressive pass for the lead, looking like she went through a corner wide open to make the move. That gave her the moto win, and with Cannon taking the penalty, Mikayla Nielsen got credit for second.
Moto two on Saturday was almost the exact opposite with Charli Cannon getting out to the lead early only to make a mistake and tip over allowing Turner to take over the lead. Charli who had a seven second lead when she fell, went back to third. She had to make her way around Neilsen and then charge back towards Turner. Cannon closed the gap and tried to make several pass attempts until she cased the center triple and almost went down, giving Turner a 2.5 second gap. It seemed like it might be over for Charli, but she fought back on the rough track and started to close in on Turner again. She got back to the rear wheel of the leader but was unable to secure a pass before the finish.
All three riders spoke with the press after the race on Saturday:
Lachlan Turner: “It definitely feels amazing coming away with a 1-1. I came into this weekend never riding this new suspension, with a whole different set up. So, we took Friday, two practices, to try to get it good and I raced moto one and it was okay, but I fell and caught back up and won that. So that one, I had to work for that one, that one meant a lot. Today the track was way different. I have never ridden that rough of a track before. So, that was definitely new, and I need to get used to that. And today the suspension was kicking everybody. I don’t know how I didn’t crash and I just salvaged that first place. Charli went down, it's a bummer that she went down, but we had a few battles. I was stressing but I got away with the win.”
Charli Cannon: “I did make a lot of mistakes this weekend that cost maybe a better result. But I am just happy that I got through, I ended on a good note, I was pretty happy with my riding. I fought hard on the rough track. Pity I stalled it and went down, but I take lots of positives out of this weekend. I know I can run up there, so I just keep chipping away, go back to the drawing board and work hard. I had a lot of fun. I really, really enjoy racing on Saturday. I liked the track, it was technical, but it was still fast. You just had to really find the right lines, but I feel I did that and had some good battles with Lala. Good weekend overall and we’ll just keep on working.”
Mikayla Nielsen: “I feel like coming into today, anything was better than yesterday’s stress levels, with that motor swap and waiting around for my bike on the line. I felt like yesterday’s moto I wasn’t really in it, and I was just like trying to calm my nerves down and process what was happening. So, I knew I had more in the tank for today’s moto. Coming into today I just wanted to get a good start and just sprint those couple of laps with them because they have a good pace. I am happy to stick with them for those couple or few laps, but that pace is crazy. Coming from offroad we don’t have that intensity, so I have to work on lasting that intensity. Overall, I am happy, I got a good start and worked on my sprints and those are two positives from last year I have been working on for this season. I’m glad to see improvements when you are working on preseason stuff. You don’t know coming into this first round. It’s nice knowing after this first round and heading into next round what I can improve on. Like they said the track was pretty sick, but it wasn’t really sick riding a paddle [tire]! it got a little scary sometimes. But I agree Saturdays are a lot of fun, lining up with everyone you just feel the energy.”
The racing for WMX at Hangtown was absolutely incredible with battles both motos coming down to the last lap. It was everything fans could hope for… or maybe there will be even more! It was just announced that two-time FIM WMX World Champion Lotte Van Drunen will join the mix stateside starting at Thunder Valley. It will literally be the US champ, versus the Australian champ, versus the World champ. It didn’t seem like WMX could get any better than Hangtown, but it just might this weekend in Colorado.
