There has been plenty of anticipation surrounding Charli Cannon’s return to the United States to contest the 2026 Women’s Motocross (WMX) Championship powered by Synchrony. The opening round at Hangtown delivered one of the season’s headline match-ups, with Cannon going head-to-head against defending champion Lachlan Turner and ultimately securing P2 overall. In this Check In feature, the current Australian number one reflects on her opening weekend of WMX competition in California.

Image: Octopi Media.

Charli, you had a great battle with ‘Lala’ this weekend. Despite the penalty yesterday and a tip-over at the start today, you bounced back well and were right there in the fight. Talk about your weekend and what it means to start the season with P2 overall while knowing you have the pace to run up front.

I did make a lot of mistakes this weekend that maybe cost me better results, but I’m just happy that I got through it and ended on a pretty good note. I was happy with my riding and fought hard on a rough track, but I stalled it and went down. I took a lot of positives out of the weekend and I know I can run up there, so we just keep chipping away, go back to the drawing board and work hard. But I had a lot of fun. I really enjoy racing on Saturdays. I liked the track – it was technical, but still fast, and you really had to find the right lines. I feel like I did that and had some good battles with Lala, so it was a good weekend overall and we’ll just keep working.

We heard plenty about how rough the tracks were at the Oceania Women’s Cup in Australia. With Hangtown becoming much rougher today, do you feel racing those conditions back home helped prepare you for the challenges here?

Yeah, I feel like the Australian tracks are a lot tighter, and with that they tend to form up rougher because it’s always switchbacks and very deep. Growing up racing on really rough, bumpy tracks has prepped me well for the outdoors over here. It’s just tricky finding the right setup for these tracks because they’re so much more open, fast and have longer straights. With that, they get very choppy and the braking bumps are really steep. I think racing somewhere like Wonthaggi at the start of the year definitely helps. That’s probably one of the roughest tracks I’ve ever ridden. It’s very physically demanding because there is no rest. Riding those types of tracks helps me over here, but I also think having the girls racing on Saturdays more often is going to prepare us better for the rougher conditions, and we’ll just keep getting better.

Image: Octopi Media.

What was the motivation level after you had to chase Lala back down today, especially after giving up the lead yesterday?

I just knew in this race I had nothing to lose. I wasn’t happy with my riding yesterday. I should have known that with only a 12-minute moto, it’s basically a full sprint. I didn’t do my full sprints yesterday and the gap closed in, which is why Lala could catch me. Today, with the penalty from yesterday, I was just like, ‘You know what, I’m going to give it my all and just try to be proud of myself and know that I finished the weekend with everything out on the track.’ Going down in that moto wasn’t ideal, but my goal was to hang in there with Lala and try to make some passes. It was tricky out there, but I’m happy that we could put on a good show and have some good races.

What is the one positive takeaway you’ve taken from the weekend?

I’ve noticed now that with only 12-minute races, the intensity level and the speed we can race at is much higher. What I took away from this weekend is that my racing from here on out is going to be high-intensity sprints, so that’s what I need to start working on.