Shan Moore | August 28, 2024
Having missed the season opener due to a back injury, Kawasaki rider Kyleigh Stallings grabbed her second 1-1 sweep in a row with a standout performance at the Ironman National WMX round at Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana, round five of eight of the Women’s Motocross Championship series, August 23. At the previous round in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, Stallings went 1-1 to top Yamaha’s Jordan Jarvis (2-2) and Kawasaki rider Sophia Phelps (3-3) for the overall win.
The fifth round of the WMX Championship was held during the Ironman Pro Motocross Championship in Indiana.
Photos by Mitch Kendra
At Ironman Raceway, Stallings turned in a nearly identical performance, grabbing the holeshot in the opening moto and building a four-second cushion over 17-year-old Lachlan Turner (Yamaha), which Stallings held to the finish. Lachlan, who dominated rounds two and three of the series (winning all four motos) held onto second, while Honda’s Mikayla Nielsen finished third. Phelps and Jamie Astudillo (KTM) rounded out the top five for the moto.
Jarvis challenged Nielsen for third at one point during the moto but went down and dropped to sixth at the finish.
“I was battling for a while, stuck behind Nielsen, and I was trying to make the pass because we were running out of time and I ended up going down and smacking my head pretty good,” said Jarvis. “It just took me too long to get up. Something was going on with my clutch, and I lost my front brake, but I ended up being able to catch up to sixth in the end.”
Nielsen got the jump in moto two, leading Stallings and Turner into the opening lap. Jarvis heated up her clutch on the line when the gate was held up longer than usual, and she was last into the first turn, although she was able to work quickly up into fourth.
Kyleigh Stallings won both motos at the Ironman. It was her second consecutive 1-1.
Nielsen held the lead until the halfway mark when she made a mistake and went down, handing the lead to Stallings and opening the door for Turner and Jarvis to pass as well.
With two laps to go, Stallings was challenged by Lachlan and Jarvis, with Turner passing Stallings for the lead. Jarvis had also closed in to challenge Stallings, but Stallings pushed back when Turner went down and regained the lead on the final lap to grab the 1-1 sweep and the overall. Jarvis took advantage of Turner’s mistake and took the runner-up spot, with Turner recovering for third. Nielsen and Yamaha rider Katie Benson rounded out the top five.
Stallings took the overall win with a 1-1 score, with Turner in second at 2-3 and Nielsen third overall with a 3-4 tally. Jarvis was fourth overall with a 6-2.
“The first moto was good; it was exactly what I wanted to do,” said Stallings. “In the second moto, I had a good battle with Lachlan at the end, but I got the overall, and I’m proud, really pumped about that.”
Turner was equally pleased with second overall.
“I’m very happy with my speed, and I had a lot of fun,” Turner said on social media. “I definitely need to work on not tipping over and not crashing. Hey, it’s just another race, and there’s plenty more to come.”
Phelps, who unofficially sat atop the series standings coming into the event, taking into consideration that the riders are allowed to drop their two worst rounds at the end of the year, rounded out the top five overall.
Lachlan Turner was second overall with a 2-3.
“In the first moto I got a terrible start, which was all my fault,” said Phelps. “I just tried to make some quick moves, and I worked my way up to fifth, where I hung out for most of the moto. I could see Jordan up ahead, but we were going at similar speeds, so I wasn’t catching them, and they weren’t really leaving me. Then Jordan went down, and I passed her towards the end of the moto. On the last lap, I went down on an inside line when I caught my foot on the dirt. I was concerned because I couldn’t get out from under my bike, but I was still in fourth once I got going, so I finished fourth that moto.”
In the final moto, Phelps got off the line inside the top five but got caught in a rut and was hung up for a while, dropping back to 11th. The Kawasaki rider was able to work back up to seventh by the checkers, her 5-7 good enough for fifth overall.
Mikayla Nielsen was third overall.
Katie Benson (Yamaha) went 7-5 for sixth overall, with Jamie Astudillo (KTM) going 5-8 for seventh. Viciana Contreras was 8-6 on a KTM for eighth overall, with Shelby Rolen (KTM) 10-9 and Brianna Scheltema (KTM) 9-10 rounding out the top 10.
OVERALL
- Kyleigh Stallings (Kaw) 1-1
- Lachlan Turner (Yam) 2-3
- Mikayla Nielsen (Hon) 3-4
- Jordan Jarvis (Yam) 6-2
- Sophie Phelps (Kaw) 4-7
- Katie Benson (Yam) 7-5
- Jamie Astudillo (KTM) 5-8
- Viciana Contreras (KTM) 8-6
- Shelby Rolen (KTM) 10-9
- Brianna Scheltema (KTM) 9-10
