Despite undergoing surgery just days out from Fox Raceway’s opening round of the AMA-sanctioned 2025 Women’s Motocross Championship (WMX), triple Australian champion Charli Cannon has managed to feature on the podium in two out of her three American appearances with Quad Lock Honda so far, edging closer to a maiden victory in the series. Get Cannon’s Fast Thoughts on the experience in the U.S. after she landed second overall at Thunder Valley this past weekend.

Image: Octopi Media.

Keys to success at Thunder Valley…

Honestly, I just went out and tried to give it my all. I just had to be smart, the track was pretty brutal and I struggled a little bit, I wont lie. I just struggled from about the halfway point of the motos with the strength in my hand, but second on the day – can’t complain too much.

Australian champion versus American champion battle…

It’s awesome having someone to battle with… [Lachlan Turner], she rips, and it really pushes me to be a better rider. I’m looking forward to being back to 100 percent health and having some good battles throughout the whole moto.

Racing on Saturday and live on the broadcast…

I think it’s awesome that at least just one of our motos gets to be live on television, it’s just good to showcase what women are capable of. In this era, we’ve got some really talented girls, so hopefully we can keep building it up. Even having one race on Friday and one on Saturday would be pretty cool.

Image: Octopi Media.

The potential of lining up in the 250MX category…

I think it would be sick to race with the men. I’d definitely need to pick up my training to last a 30 plus two, or whatever. But yeah, I can see that in the future – we’ve got some good talent in WMX.

Racing with a finger injury…

Yeah, the finger injury before round one definitely made it difficult for me. I haven’t felt like my usual self on the bike with my controls and grip strength, and just my aggression. It’s hard to really use my clutch and ride like I normally would. Every round I feel like I’ve made small improvements, but I’m still nowhere near 100 percent. My finger is still really swollen and I have very limited movement. I see my surgeon this week when I get home, so we’ll come up with a plan to get back to 100 percent as soon as possible. I’ll take a few weeks off to fully heal, then get back into some serious training before I head back over.