Charli Cannon Wins WMX Season Finale But Lachlan Turner Crowned Champion

The following press release is from MX Sports Pro Racing:

Lachlan Turner Prevails with Third Straight Women’s Motocross Championship at Ironman Raceway
Charli Cannon Captures Victory as Championship Runner-Up

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Md. – A breakthrough summer for the 2026 Women’s Motocross Championship Powered by Synchrony [WMX] came to an exciting conclusion from Ironman Raceway, as part of the historic U.S. Army Ironman National Finals. A championship was on the line at the sixth and final round of the WMX campaign, where the season-long rivalry between Altus Motorsports bLUcRU Yamaha’s Lachlan Turner [#1] and Quad Lock Honda’s Charli Cannon [#7] culminated with the summer’s final two motos on Friday and Saturday. Those remaining gate drops weren’t without drama for Turner, who battled through adversity across both days to prevail with her third consecutive WMX title as Cannon enjoyed her most dominant effort on U.S. soil.

Qualifying

• Turner made the first statement of the weekend by pacing each Qualifying session. Her time of 2:18.740 placed her well ahead of Cannon’s 2:21.082, with the title combatants separated by 2.3 seconds. In her U.S. debut, FIM MXW points leader Daniela Guillen [#255] placed third with a time of 2:21.157 for Wildcat Race Team GASGAS.

Moto 1 [12 Minutes + 1 Lap]

• The first moto of the weekend stormed out the gate on Friday with Cannon leading the field to the holeshot, followed by SLR Honda’s Mayla Herrick [#23] and Turner.
• With a clear track ahead of her the Australian pushed the pace on the opening lap and put some distance over Herrick and Turner, who battled for second briefly before the Yamaha rider slotted in behind her rival.
• As Turner began to close in on Cannon near the end of the opening lap, Herrick was forced to fend off pressure from Guillen, as the Spaniard took advantage of a fourth place start to break into the top three.
• It wasn’t long before Cannon and Turner started to pull away from the rest of the field to set the stage for a head-to-head battle. The two mirrored one another throughout the track, trading surges of momentum. Through it all, Cannon fended off any pressure from Turner.
• The leaders quickly approached lapped traffic, which forced both riders to search for alternate lines. As they traversed the track’s challenging woods section, Turner lost her balance in a rut and veered off course. She remained on two wheels, but lost ground to Cannon.
• The Honda rider was able to assert her hold on the lead, while Turner appeared to settle into second. However, as time expired on the race clock Turner made another costly error in the same section and went down. That allowed several riders to get by as she looked to pick up her motorcycle and reenter the race, eventually resuming in sixth place.
• With no pressure from behind, Cannon completed an impressive and much-needed winning effort with a wire-to-wire moto victory. Her second moto win of the season came by a margin of 24.4 seconds over Guillen, followed by Herrick in third, FMF KTM Factory Racing’s Brandy Richards [#198] in fourth, and Turner in fifth.

Moto 2 [12 Minutes + 1 Lap]

• After the outcome of Friday’s moto, Turner and Cannon returned to the starting gate on Saturday separated by 13 points. The final moto got underway with the pair side-by-side, with Cannon out front for the holeshot. Turner went on the attack and briefly took the lead but then tipped over in the same woods section that proved to be her nemesis. As Cannon ran away with the lead, Turner remounted in 17th place.
• Cannon looked to assert her hold of the top spot but had Herrick in tow keeping her honest. Behind them, Triumph rider Hannah Hodges [#172] slotted into third.
• As the leaders settled in, Turner fought to overcome her early misfortune. Needing to finish no worse than 10th, she was patient and picked off riders one-by-one, soon breaking into the top 10 with more than half the moto remaining.
• Inside the final five minutes, Cannon and Herrick moved more than 10 seconds clear of the field as Hodges dropped into the clutches of a multi-rider fight for third. Eventually, Guillen charged her way into podium position, with SLR Honda’s Mikayla Nielsen [#51] in fourth and a determined Turner in fifth.
• Cannon capped off a dominant weekend by completing the moto sweep, taking the checkered flag 3.4 seconds ahead of Herrick, with Guillen in third. Turner charged home in fourth in a 13-position comeback worthy of a champion.

Overall

• Cannon’s first 1-1 sweep in the U.S. resulted in her second win of the season and career, although it wasn’t enough to capture the title.
• Herrick capped off a consistent weekend with a career-best runner-up finish (3-2).
• Guillen’s WMX debut resulted in a well-deserved breakthrough podium result (2-3) before she returns to MXGP to try and capture her first MXW title.
• Ironically, Turner’s championship-clinching performance came on a weekend in which she failed to finish on the overall podium for the first time in her career. She finished fourth overall following a 5-4 effort.
• Turner and Cannon finished the championship separated by six points in the final standings. 
• A dramatic multi-rider battle for the final spot on the championship podium saw Nielsen, who finished sixth after a 7-5 effort, finish in a tie with Dusty Rocks Yamaha’s Jordan Jarvis [#301], who finished seventh with 6-6 finishes, for third in the final point standings. The tiebreaker went in Nielsen’s favor, placing the Honda rider third in the championship for back-to-back seasons.