RIDGEDALE, Missouri: Lachlan Turner held off a determined charge by Charli Cannon with a straightaway to go in the WMX Invitational at Thunder Ridge Nature Arena, but Cannon cased a jump late in the race and lost her momentum.
Turner took the lead from Hannah Hodges on Lap 3 and steadily moved away from the field. Turner had a modest start and had to pick her way forward.
At the time of the pass, a blanket could have been thrown over the top three riders, but that was occasioned by catastrophe for the teenager Mayla Herrick.
Herrick grabbed the holeshot and then gave up the top spot to Cannon until that rider slipped off the track. In the chaos, Hodges took the lead with Herrick in hot pursuit.
Cannon regained her composure and rode through the field to challenge for the win in the 10-minute, plus one lap race featuring the fastest women in Motocross. As Turner showed patience moving through the field, Cannon was clearly the fastest rider on track.
Cannon caught Turner with one lap remaining, but when she attempted a crossover move, she lost forward momentum, failed to get a drive off one of the jumps and came up three inches short on the next one.
Herrick was one of the fastest riders on the track until she moved to the right to pass Hodges for the lead on Lap 3. Herrick clipped a Tuff Blox and crashed hard in the sand.
That was the incident that brought Cannon back into the fight.
Mikayla Nielsen and Jordan Jarvis treated the fans with one of the best battles of the evening, battling for fourth and fifth. Jarvis took the position on the last lap.
After her incident, Herrick was credited with ninth.
