Van Drunen vs. Turner: Monster Energy Women’s MX Stars Set for Showdown at Thunder Valley
Lotte Van Drunen and Lachlan “Lala” Turner prepare to face off for the first time as global WMX champions collide at Thunder Valley.
This is gonna be cool. Two of the world’s top ranked women’s motocross stars – Monster Energy’s defending U.S. WMX champ Lachlan “Lala” Turner and Europe’s defending MXGP Pro Women’s champ Lotte Van Drunen – are scheduled to meet for the first time this weekend when the gate drops for the Women’s Motocross Championship, powered by Synchrony (WMX), portion of the Toyota Thunder Valley MX National in Lakewood, Colo., on Saturday (June 13), Round 3 of the 2026 AMA Pro Motocross Championship.
Turner, aboard the Altus Blu Cru Yamaha, is coming off a big weekend where she opened her 2026 title defense with a hard fought 1-1 victory on a tough Hangtown MX National track in Prairie City, Calif. And Van Drunen (De Baets/Yamaha), the back-to-back European women’s pro MX champ who announced on Monday her plans to race (as a wild card entry) both Thunder Valley and the following MX Nationals round (June 20) at High Point Raceway in Mt. Morris, Pa., is looking for a restart to her 2026 summer as two previous European races in France and Germany ended in tough crashes and a 9th position in the overall standings for the Belgian.
Said Van Drunen in quick social media post: “America, I am ready. Proud to say I will be lining up at the AMA WMX at Thunder Valley and High Point … Massive thank you to everyone who helped me get there.”
Coupled with the fact that Turner and Van Drunen have never raced is the addition of multi-time Australian WMX champion Charli Cannon (Quad Lock Honda) to the mix, making for the first time ever that a U.S. champion, European champion and Australian champion have been in the starting gate for a U.S. WMX pro race at the same time. Beyond that you certainly can’t overlook Monster Energy’s Mikayla Nielsen with Slam Life Racing/Honda. The former Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Championship (aka “Loretta’s”) champion (2019, Girls 11-16) placed 3rd behind Turner and Cannon at the Hangtown WMX opener, going a solid 2-3.
Up next: The 2026 Pro Motocross Championship and WMX rolls east to Lakewood, Colo.’s Thunder Valley Raceway for Round 3 of the series, June 13.
