The final round of the WMX Championship concluded with a three-moto finale at the Budds Creek Pro Motocross in Mechanicsville, Maryland, August 22-23. Points leader and defending champion Lachlan “La La” Turner aimed to secure her second title over the weekend, while Australian Charli Cannon did her best to dethrone the current WMX queen. In the end, Turner won two of the three motos and took the overall crown.
Friday hosted the first two motos of the weekend and had arguably the most drama. Team Green Kawasaki’s Kyleigh Stallings grabbed the holeshot in moto one, with Cannon and Turner closely behind. Turner, while running third, navigated a tricky step-up and crashed hard in the early laps.
This crash aggravated a recent back injury, but Turner quickly remounted and refocused to re-enter the fight for the lead. With Turner out of the picture up front, Cannon passed Stallings for the lead and pulled away to take the moto win. The Australian champ scored maximum points in race one, while Turner charged back to second. Jordan Jarvis finished third.
Stallings, again, holeshot moto two, with the rest of the championship contenders hot on her heels. Carrying her momentum from her win in moto one, Cannon quickly took over the lead early, passing Stallings and looking comfortable out front. Turner started back in fifth but moved into second halfway through, trailing Cannon. Troubles for the Aussie rider arose when she over-jumped the triple step-up and went off the track.
This crucial mistake allowed Turner to slip past for the lead just after the race’s halfway point. Cannon stayed close, but another mistake late in the race made the gap too big to close. Despite her crash in race one, Turner fought her way to victory in moto two, with Cannon finishing second. Jarvis again finished third in a photo finish with Mikayla Nielsen.
Saturday’s moto three proved to be a winner-take-all scenario. Cannon crashed at the start while the rest of the field took off without her. Nielsen capitalized on a good start and led the opening lap while Turner stalked the front-runners. By the end of lap two, Turner had already pushed into the lead and never looked back.
The reigning number one showed why she’s the champ and sprinted away to a 26-second gap. 2-1-1 finishes earned her the final overall of the year, along with her second straight WMX title.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Turner said. “I rode my heart out that moto. If you put your heart into it and your mind into it and work hard for it, it comes.”
Mikayla Nielsen held on for second in the final moto, marking her best result of the weekend. She took third overall and third in the series points.
“I had a good first two rounds, but after Thunder Valley, I’ve just been stuck in a rut,” Nielsen said. “It was hard to swallow those bad motos, but that’s one thing I’ve learned from this season is just moving on from it…I was able to do that today; just move on and do my best this last moto. I’m just happy to show that I’ve progressed and that my starts were better.”
Charli Cannon battled back to fourth place at the line after crashing in turn one. She used 1-2-4 finishes for second overall, along with second in the championship.
“I knew crashing in that first turn and only having a 12-minute moto isn’t ideal,” Cannon said. “I got back up and charged as hard as I could, but I had some really sketchy moments, and that’s just stuff I need to work on for the future. Clean up those mistakes when things don’t really go your way. But just trying to weave through lappers was one of the hardest things.”CN
VIDEO | Pro Motocross WMX Budds Creek Highlights
2025 AMA WMX Round 6 Results
OVERALL (Top 5)
- Lachlan Turner (Yam) 2-1-1
- Charli Cannon (Hon) 1-2-4
- Mikayla Nielsen (Hon) 4-4-2
- Jordan Jarvis (Yam) 3-3-5
- Kyleigh Stallings (Kaw) 5-5-3
