JK Racing Yamaha guest rider Charli Cannon showed promise in her Women’s Motocross World Championship debut at Afyonkarahisar, despite crashing out of podium contention in moto two and later breaking her collarbone.

Cannon posted the ninth fastest lap in Timed Practice and improved to P8 in the opening moto, running inside the top six in the early stages.

In race two, the Australian swiftly worked her way into podium contention and fell while challenging for second. She remounted 10th but suffered another crash which caused the injury and ended her bout.

“Right after the race, I was just disappointed and upset as I felt I let some many people down by not being able to finish the race and not getting a good result,” Cannon said.

“But now that I have had some time to think about it, there are a lot of positives I can take from it and it has motivated me to make sure I get back and do more of these events as I believe I can be competitive with the best women racers in the world.

“I started the weekend out pretty slowly as I was so nervous and a bit overwhelmed by everything happening around me. I think I was four seconds a lap off the pace and that was a bit disheartening, but I knew I didn’t ride well and I could make improvements.

“By the time race two had finished, my best lap was under a second away from the fastest of the race and I felt like I could have run that pace for the whole moto. Hopefully, I can get the opportunity to do more GPs as now that I know how things run and have a relationship with a lot of the people, it will make things easier for me.

“I see this as just the beginning and I have come home motivated to get to work once my collarbone heals. I loved the atmosphere of the GPs, and everyone was so helpful. I can’t wait to get back to do more in 2023.”

The grand prix opportunity followed Cannon’s dominance of MXW in 2022 ProMX with the Yamalube Yamaha Racing Team, taking every moto victory to stamp her arrival in the senior ranks and secure the title.