The Women’s Motocross Championship Powered by Synchrony (WMX) kicked off their six-round championship today in Northern California. Here is a recap of the action!

Warm weather and a tricky track welcomed the WMX riders first thing this morning. The track was soft and needed to get worked in some.

There are a lot of new faces to follow in WMX this year, as new riders join the pro ranks and different riders have come from around the world. 

Two-time and defending WMX Champion Lachlan Turner picked up where she left off in 2025, topping the first qualifying session of the day with a 2:11.204 over a 2:11.365 from Australia's Taylah Mccutcheon (a new rider to the series for 2026). McCutcheon is following in the footsteps of fellow Aussie Charli Cannon, who came to race the full WMX series last year. Mikayla Nielsen, Jordan Jarvis, and Emma Milesevic rounded out the top five. Cannon, who finished second in the 2025 championship and now lives in the USA full-time as she looks to give Turner a run for her money, was sixth fastest in the session.

By the time the women hit the track for the second session, it had tried up significantly. The green flag waived and the field got back into rhythm, and their times showed the drier track as the hot laps were way faster than the first session.

Still, it was Turner on top, but her 2:03.897 was nearly eight seconds faster than her best lap from the first qualifying session! Turner was almost two seconds faster than P2! This time around, Cannon was P2 with a 2:05.544. Then McCutcheon then Nielsen then Milesevic rounded out the top five. 

Jordan Jarvis, who was P4 in the first session, did not get in a full lap in the second session due to bike troubles.

In terms of overall qualifying, Turner bests Cannon, McCutcheon then Nielsen then Milesevic rounded out the top five. Jarvis' time from the first session is P6 overall, so she still gets a decent gate pick for the first moto coming up shortly.

The drama in the first moto of the 2026 Women’s Motocross Championship, Powered by Synchrony, got going before the first gate even dropped. Mikayla Nielsen’s clutch had broken during the second qualifier shortly before, and when all the bikes were on the line, Nielsen was there without her machine as the National Anthem rang over the hills of Hangtown. Fortunately for her, her team came through and delivered her motorcycle just in time for her to participate in the site-in lap. Talk about cutting it close! Jordan Jarvis and her crew also hustled to make repairs, having to perform an engine swap in order to make it to the line.

When the gate dropped it was LaLa Turner who shot out to the lead. She immediately went to work building a lead, and it didn’t take long before this moto was shaping up to be a snooze. But then Turner made a mistake and crashed right after the finish line, and just like that she lost her big lead, and multiple spots. She got up and rejoined the race, but her error had resulted in Charli Cannon now having a huge lead. And with the shorter motos (12 minutes plus one lap), overcoming a blunder like that is a tough order to fill.

Elsewhere in the field Taylah Mccutcheon ran second behind Cannon, with Nielsen close behind, Turner pushing forward in fourth, and Jarvis running a lonely fifth. As the race wore on Nielsen would make her way past McCutcheon, but Turner was ripping and soon found her way past both of them into second. Cannon still had a huge lead, but Turner was crushing it, obliterating Cannon’s lap times to the tune of nearly two seconds. Not surprisingly, Turner soon found Cannon in her sites.

Turner continued to close, then Cannon handed her a gift when she made a mistake and went off the track. Turner closed so fast that she accidentally ran into Cannon’s rear tire! Cannon knew she had to light the burners, which she did, but resistance was futile at this point. Turner was all over Cannon, throwing an wheel on the inside every chance she had, trying to make something work. Finally, on the final lap as they approached a right hander right before an uphill section, Turner decided it was time to go and charged in hard. Cannon didn’t seem like she put up much of a fight, and it’s good she didn’t because Turner wasn’t letting off. She came in hot, leaned hard, and grease by with millimeters to spare. She may have even bermed off Cannon’s tires, causing her to drift wide and go off the track briefly. Turner was already gone by the time Cannon got back up to speed, and that would be the end of it. Turner went on to draw the first blood of 2026, with Cannon, Nielsen, McCutcheon, and Jarvis rounding out the top five.