The WMX queen flies to America (again): Lotte van Drunen ready to amaze once more

A new challenge across the ocean: the reigning world champion is ready for two blazing AMA WMX weekends.

Lotte van Drunen is once again ready for a stars-and-stripes challenge. Not a true overseas debut for the reigning two-time world champion, but it will indeed be her first outing in AMA WMX: the “Queen of the Sand” will race next week at the Thunder Valley National in Lakewood, Colorado, and then return to action a few days later at the High Point National in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania. With the Women’s World Championship resuming only on the July 18–19 weekend at Foxhill in Great Britain, the fiery motocrosser from Gorinchem certainly doesn’t intend to sit still—on the contrary, the goal will surely be to stand out, as she already did at the Mini O's. She’s not the only world-class rider lining up in the USA in the short term: keep an eye on the Belgian twins Lucas and Sacha Coenen, historic MXGP and MX2 title contenders, as they head for the American challenge.

What to expect? Well, nothing less than seeing her among the protagonists, as we’re used to in any challenge. The Netherlands definitely boasts standout benchmarks in motocross: on the men’s side the record man Jeffrey Herlings, and on the women’s side her—the youngest world champion in history. Remember, she was only 17 when she clinched her first world crown, in 2024. Born and raised in a motocross family, she was making headlines from a young age, debuted in the 2022 WMX World Championship at the final round in Turkey (already scoring points), then delivered a stellar full-time rookie season in 2023 with wins, podiums, and a superb 3rd overall. The following year she climbed even higher and, as mentioned, crushed the competition to take the women’s world title, while in that same year we also saw her take on the MX2 men, scoring her first point at the Lommel round. In 2025 she’s still in the 250 men’s class; this year too she began her world season ahead of her female rivals and again against the men, scoring more points.

Not even 19 yet (she’ll turn in August), she already boasts two Women’s World Championship titles, the second secured last year, and the primary goal is a hat trick this year. But 2026 in WMX hasn’t started exactly as expected: at Lacapelle Marival she finished 4th overall with a podium, while at Teutschenthal she ended up 10th overall after a crash. “Another rider jumped on me,” she later recounted. “I got back up, but I could only see out of one eye because of the blood in the other, so I changed goggles and fought on.” Currently, nearly halfway through the season (remember, there are five WMX World Championship rounds in total), she sits 9th overall, 44 points behind leader Daniela Guillen. With three rounds to go, the Dutch superstar can no longer afford mistakes if she wants to aim for the big prize. In the meantime, the charge from this overseas challenge will surely help for WMX’s restart in mid-July.