Lachlan Turner dominates, wins Moto 1 in Thunder Valley

LAKEWOOD, Colorado: Lachlan Turner overcame a poor start to pass leader, Charli Cannon, at the completion of the first lap in Moto 1 at Thunder Valley Motocross Park in the second round of the Women’s Pro Motocross (WMX) powered by Synchrony season. Turner continued to stretch her advantage and ultimately crossed the finish line nearly 28 seconds ahead of Cannon for her third moto win of the season.

“I want to ride the rest of the season like this,” Turner said. “I definitely hope that the girls don’t crash so that they could battle with me and have some excited races for TV to watch. But yeah, I’m glad I’m winning.”

Turner’s dominant win aside, the action was intense throughout the top five.

Cannon finished second, but had to overcome a Lap 2 crash that cost the opportunity to challenge Turner, just as she did in both motos of the season-opener at Rancho Cordova, California, last week.

“I’m just happy to get through that,” Cannon told NBC Sports after the race. “I got thrown with a few little issues in that moto, but we overcame them. And I finished second, so that’s not a bad place to finish with what I was going through. We’ll just recover and hopefully feel good for tomorrow.”

One of the issues Cannon alluded to was a potential shoulder injury. She climbed from her bike in obvious pain, pointing to her right shoulder, but once she ascended the podium, she never mentioned the injury.

“When I crashed I just cartwheeled and landed on it or the bike hit it or something and I got a massive lump on it, but I finished racing and I can move it,” Cannon said once she was behind the podium once more. “So we’re all good.”

The bigger concern was damage to her rear brake, which impeded Cannon’s lap times.

Mikayla Nielsen took over second after Cannon’s crash and rode in that position until the final lap. Her bike developed mechanical issues immediately after crossing the finish line on the white flag lap.

Nielsen failed to finish the lap and was credited with 16th, which will deny her an opportunity to win the overall when the WMX riders next mount up following the men’s program on Saturday.

For every loser, there is a winner. At Thunder Valley, that was the rookie Taylah McCullough, who scored her first podium finish in her third start.

“Ending up on the podium on Moto 1 just brings more fire to the belly for Moto 2 tomorrow,” McCullough said. “So just do it again and hopefully stay where I am.”

Another rider with a great day was Lotte van Drunen, making her WMX debut this week. Riding a stock bike, van Drunen was handicapped from the beginning, but she improved in every session.

At the start of Moto 1, van Drunen was locked in a fierce battle with holeshot winner Piper Bell. Van Drunen pressured Bell for several laps until she completed the pass. Once around Bell, van Drunen passed the veteran Jordan Jarvis and the stricken Nielsen on the final lap to finish fourth in her WMX debut.