Mikayla Nielsen wins 2025 WMX opener at Fox Raceway
PALA, California: The second season of the rebooted Women's Motocross Championship kicked off with the opening round of the 2025 Pro Motocross season's Fox Raceway Nationals—the first of six rounds with Mikayla Nielsen scoring her first WMX win after finishing second in Moto 1 and winning the second moto.
After getting what she described as a poor start, Nielsen completed the first lap just inside the top five, and had to work through traffic in the second race. Once she passed Jordan Jarvis for the lead in the second race, Nielsen set sail.
'This was my first WMX win on a big bike and it's been kind of like a 'struggle bus' with results,' Nielsen told NBC Sports after the race. 'You start to doubt yourself when you don't win. I know I can be a contender and it's a breath of fresh air trying to get this one. I can carry so much confidence into the season.'
All six rounds of the 2025 WMX Championship will be held in conjunction with MX Nationals, which will add additional eyes to the series.
'I didn't get a good start [in the second race], just like the first moto, so I have to go back and work on that,' Nielsen continued. 'Got a lot of passes in the first lap and then had to get Jordon and just stay in my own head and go forward. Don't try to look around and see where everyone is; just push forward.'
Last year's championship had two rounds paired with National events as well as one that was run in the Ricky Carmichael Amateur Supercross race on the infield of the Daytona International Speedway. Lachlan Turner took the inaugural title of the rebooted series.
She was off to a fast start in Pala as well. Turner won Moto and finished third in the second race.
'It's pretty nice, starting out with second with a one and a three,' Turner said. 'It's super-cool to have WMX back. ... It's super-sick to be out here. There are a bunch of up and coming women that are fast.'
Jarvis was the most experienced woman in the field. She raced the series before it went into hiatus as well as racing in the Pro MX 250 division alongside the men in 2020 through 2023.
'It's awesome; I'm not sure we've ever had a field this deep ever in the women's class,' Jarvis said after descending from the third-place box on the podium. 'Lala (Lachlan) won WMX last year; I've won WMX before. Charli [Cannon] is the Australian champion. Mikayla's podiumed several time and just got her first win and Kyleigh [Stalling] was multi-Loretta Lynn's champion, so the top five was crazy.
'It's going to be an interesting season. You never know who can win. I think today proved that.'
The WMX series will continue into the next two rounds with the Hangtown Motocross Classic and in Thunder Valley in Lakewood, Colorado, take a break, and then return for the final three rounds — a move designed to allow the riders to manage their travel expenses, according to Pro MX CEO Carrie Coombs.
The mid-season break may also attract more women to the field.
'I've been around for a long time, but a lot of these women are younger,' Jarvis continued. 'To show that the old talent is still here, but the new talent is coming up. There are so many good women in this class.'
Nielson, Turner, and Jarvis were followed across the line by Charli Cannon who finished third in the first moto and fourth in the second, despite racing with a recent injury that required surgery on her thumb.
Kyleigh Stallings rounded out the top five with results of fifth in both motos.
More SuperMotocross News
Fox Raceway Preview
Chad Reed joins ClubMX as a consultant
Betting odds set expectations for Pro MX championship
Bajaj Auto Ltd secures loan, potentially for KTM
Alexander Fedortsov to turn pro in MX opener
Levi Kitchen renews with Pro Circuit
Malcolm Stewart launches fishing apparel line
Dylan Ferrandis to miss start of Pro MX
Sexton wins 7th race, Webb 3rd title
Haiden Deegan wins final 250 E/W Showdown
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox Sports
2 hours ago
- Fox Sports
How the Pacers pulled off a comeback stunner in Game 1 of the NBA Finals
The game plan was the obvious one. Just chip away, the Indiana Pacers said, because there was no other option that would have made any sense at that point. They were down by 15 with 9:42 remaining. They were turning the ball over about once every three possessions, couldn't stop Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and had the Oklahoma City crowd in a deafening fury. "We just said, 'Hey, let's just keep chipping away at the rock,'" Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "Got to keep pounding the rock and just chip away and hang in." With 0.3 seconds left, there was no more rock left to pound. Not for Game 1, anyway. Tyrese Haliburton scored with that much time left, and the Pacers stunned the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-110 in the opener of this year's NBA Finals on Thursday night. A look inside the comeback: The run The Pacers outscored the Thunder 32-16 in that final 9:42, with only six players getting used for those final minutes and all of them figuring into the scoring column. Obi Toppin took two shots. Both were 3-pointers. Both connected. Myles Turner and Andrew Nembhard each scored eight points to lead Indiana during the flurry. Aaron Nesmith led the Pacers with four rebounds in that stretch. And Haliburton provided the exclamation point with the jumper at the end. "I've worked my entire life to get to this stage, so there's no holding back," Turner said. The collapse The Thunder shot 4 for 16 in that closing stretch. Gilgeous-Alexander was 2 for 4; everyone else on the Thunder combined to shoot 2 for 12. The MVP had 10 points; everyone else on the Thunder combined for six. The reasons for all that? "A little bit of everything," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "They made some plays. On some of those plays they made some shots. They got a couple that you wish you'd get back. We had bonus fouls, which were costly. Then offensively we didn't move the scoreboard as well as we could have. So you just add all that up and that's how you get that sort of comeback." The reactions There was no choke sign from Haliburton, no celebratory dance, just a bunch of hugs with teammates and a big hug with his father John Haliburton in the hallway near the Pacers' locker room afterward. The Pacers, coach Rick Carlisle said, haven't engaged in a ton of raucous postgame victory laps during this playoff run. "This is going to be a long journey and a lot going on," Carlisle said. "So, we're just going to have to keep our eye on the ball and keep focusing on one another." The big plays Here were some of the key moments: — Carlisle subbed in five new players — Haliburton, Nembhard, Nesmith, Toppin and Turner — with 9:42 left and Indiana trailing 94-79. — Turner hits a 3-pointer with 7:47 left, cutting the lead to 96-88 and forcing an OKC time-out. — Toppin and Turner made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions (Turner keeping the second one alive with an offensive rebound) to get Indiana within 98-94 with 6:16 left. — Gilgeous-Alexander's two free throws with 2:52 left pushed the Thunder lead to 108-99. Nesmith and Nembhard connected on back-to-back 3s, and Indiana was within thee with 1:59 left. — The Pacers got a stop with 11 seconds left and didn't call time, having taken advantage of a challenge stoppage 11 seconds earlier to map out scenarios. The clock kept running and Haliburton hit the winner with 0.3 seconds left. The final word "I don't know what you say about it but I know that this group is a resilient group and we don't give up until it's 0.0 on the clock." — Haliburton. Reporting by The Associated Press. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience National Basketball Association Indiana Pacers Oklahoma City Thunder recommended Get more from National Basketball Association Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Phillies Trade Idea Lands Blue Jays Star Bo Bichette, Replaces Alec Bohm
Phillies Trade Idea Lands Blue Jays Star Bo Bichette, Replaces Alec Bohm originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Reports have started to suggest that the Toronto Blue Jays could move on from infielder Bo Bichette. When at the top of his game, he's one of the better shortstops in Major League Baseball, and has proven that throughout his career by earning two All-Star nods, a .289 average, and a 118 OPS+. Advertisement With 100 home runs, Bichette also has some juice, despite his power numbers being down over the last 140-plus games, hitting just 11 in that span. If the Philadelphia Phillies are looking to make a blockbuster move at the deadline, it could come in the form of Bichette. The team needs a third baseman, but asking him to move over to the hot corner might not be the worst idea. In a recent trade idea from OnPattisons' Anthony SanFilippo, the Phillies would get very creative, however, with him suggesting that they could put Bryson Stott on the bench, with Trea Turner moving over to second. Philadelphia Phillies third base Alec Bohm (28) reacts in the dugout against the Atlanta Braves during the second inning at Truist Zanine-Imagn Images "Yes, he's a shortstop, and Turner plays there now, but you could do either one of two things - you can plug him at short and move Turner to second, moving Stott into a bench role," SanFilippo wrote. "Or, you keep Turner at short and ask Bichette to play third — which a lot of evaluators think he may have to do anyway when looking to sign a free agent deal after the season — and you move on from Bohm." Advertisement As he noted, the idea of putting Bichette at third base should be the better plan. Taking out Scott's bat in the middle of this lineup wouldn't be ideal, as he's proven to be a competent hitter at the big league level. Regardless, if the Phillies found a way to add a player of Bichette's caliber, they'd have to get creative and make sure they can work something out. Related: Phillies Get Major Mets News After New York's Horrible Francisco Lindor Injury Update This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
Indianapolis Star
15 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
Anatomy of a comeback: How Pacers staged one of the largest comebacks in NBA Finals history
In four series in these NBA playoffs, the Pacers have pulled off four comebacks with a historic level of improbability. On Thursday night, they managed to win a game they trailed for 47 minutes and 59.7 seconds, never once holding an advantage until Tyrese Haliburton hit his pull-up jumper with 0.3 seconds to go to claim a 111-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The other comebacks the Pacers pulled off in these playoffs have been 3-5 minute blurs. This one was more of a slow-burn in which what was coming wasn't entirely clear until Haliburton's shot splashed. Here's a look at the key plays that made the comeback, starting with the one that gave the Thunder their biggest lead. The Thunder turned the Pacers' 20 turnovers in the first half to just nine points and rarely got the clean runouts steals would usually provide as Indiana did a good job getting back on defense. But T.J. McConnell's giveaway with 9:42 left in the fourth quarter gave the Thunder one of their easiest buckets of the night. On a baseline out of bounds play, McConnell tried to lob a pass to Thomas Bryant at the top of the key and overthrew it, allowing Jalen Williams to run under it and take it the distance for an easy dunk. The Thunder had outscored the Pacers 9-3 to start the fourth at that point with the Pacers playing a mostly sub lineup with McConnell, Bryant, Bennedict Mathurin and Ben Sheppard on the floor with Pascal Siakam. Immediately after the dunk Pacers coach Rick Carlisle called timeout and brought in a whole new lineup with starters Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and Myles Turner plus Obi Toppin to try to turn things around. The new lineup started their shift with a 9-2 run that included a three-point play by Nembhard and 3-pointers by Toppin and Turner. Oklahoma City's Alex Caruso matched Nembhard's and-1 but didn't convert the free throw and the Pacers immediately jumped on that opportunity with two stops and two 3s. Oklahoma City went back up double figures, but once again the Pacers got another 1-2 punch of 3s from Toppin and Turner. Turner's was a bank shot from the left wing. The Pacers had already taken a double-figure deficit and trimmed it to two possessions. Haliburton drove to the hole to make it a four-point game after the Thunder had built the lead back up to six points. Haliburton had a hard time getting space to operate most of the night as he was being defended by Luguentz Dort and Cason Wallace and this was his first bucket of the fourth quarter, but he was attacking off the bounce and finding some space to operate. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put the Thunder back up eight with a driving layup and then two free throws to put the Thunder back up eight points. Siakam then drew a foul and missed two free throws, but he got another opportunity on the second one because the Thunder committed a lane violation. He made his second chance at a second free throw and that ended up making a difference later. Two more Gilgeous-Alexander free throws put the Thunder up nine again, but once again the Pacers stacked 3-pointers. This time it was their silent warriors who came through — Nesmith and Nembhard. Nesmith hit one in the left corner off a handoff from Toppin, and Nembhard hit a step-back 3 over his Team Canada teammate Gilgeous-Alexander. Suddenly it was a one-possession game with less than two minutes to play. Siakam was all the way in the left corner when Nembhard pulled up for a 3-pointer from the top of the key, but he blitzed past Gilgeous-Alexander on the baseline to grab the rebound and get the immediate putback. In a playoffs in which the Pacers have struggled to rebound. Jalen Williams missed a driving floater off the backboard which fell off the rim. Siakam and Oklahoma City's Cason Wallace scrambled for it and the ball went out of bounds off Siakam, but the Pacers believed he was fouled and challenged the call. While they awaited the challenge, they schemed for what might happen next. The challenge didn't go the Pacers way, but they got the ball back anyway with just the right amount of time to win the game. Gilgeous-Alexander spun into Nembhard, took a step-back jumper and missed. Nesmith grabbed a rebound in the middle of the lane, and the Pacers had already decided to play through and not call timeout. Haliburton drove right from the top of the key on Wallace, got enough space to stop and pull-up and hit his latest miracle game-winner in these playoffs. Ball game.
