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Courtney Duncan captures 4th World Motocross Title

4 September 2023

New Zealand’s Courtney Duncan has captured another FIM World WMX Women’s Motocross Championship, with a round win at the final round in Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.

This title takes Courtney’s championship tally to four, but it hasn’t come easy. Courtney bounced back from a 7th overall in the 2022 championship suffering from a broken collarbone early in the season, ending her chances of four consecutive championship titles.

 

Riding for Big Van World MTX Kawasaki (KX250), Duncan beat an on-form Spaniard Daniela Guillen to the title by 30 points. Rounding out the championship podium was Kawasaki stablemate Lotte Van Drunen, 10 points further back. Van Drunen proved to be a worthy competitor to Courtney at times during the season. The rookie and sand spacialist took the first race win of the season in the sand of Sardegna, Italy and backed it up with an overall round victory, going 1-1 at her home GP in the Netherlands.

However, it was Duncan who proved too much for her competition down the stretch, taking overall wins at 4 of the 6 of the championship rounds.

 

Left to right: Daniela Guillen (ESP), Courtney Duncan (NZL), Lotte Van Drunen (NED)

The championship title is sure to mean a little extra this year with Duncan fending off two former world champions in Nancy Van Der Ven (2022) and 6-time world champion Kiara Fontanessi to jump back on the top step of the podium. Van Der Ven would end her season early with injury after a crash with Australian rookie Charli Cannon.

Duncan would show her class at round 3 in Spain and round 4 in France with perfect 1-1 scores in both races to boost her hopes at the championship. She rode well in the deep sand at round 5, fighting hard against the sand specialists to finish 4th overall, keeping her championship alive and minimising the damage in conditions the Kiwi doesn’t frequent as much as her Euro counterparts.

 

Courtney rode smart at the final round in Turkey, staying clear of trouble in the first race to take an easy win. After race 1, the heavens opened up and created a treacherous race track. A 17th place finish in the final race would be enough to clinch the title. After electing to forgo the sighting lap, Duncan would get off to a good start but struggle on the opening lap as she figured out the muddy circuit. She rebounded to finish a safe 2nd place with carnage unfolding all around her to bring home her fourth World Championship.

Kawasaki would take the manufacturers title thanks to the combined efforts of Courtney and Lotte Van Drunen, capturing 292 points out of a perfect 300 having won 10 of the 12 championship races between them.

 

Courtney was pleased to celebrate the win with her mother and friends who made the trip to Turkey to support the Kiwi.

Results:

WMX – Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 270 points; 2. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 240 p.; 3. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, KAW), 230 p.; 4. Lynn Valk (NED, FAN), 211 p.; 5. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 166 p.; 6 Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 157 p.;  7. p. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, YAM), 145 p.;  8. Britt Jans-Beken (NED, YAM), 130 p.; 9.  Charli Cannon (AUS, YAM), 106 p.; 10. Van Der Vlsit (NED, YAM), 98 p.

Manufacturers Championship:

  1. Kawasaki – 292
  2. GasGas – 250
  3. Yamaha – 217
  4. Fantic – 211
  5. KTM – 167
  6. Husqvarna – 82
  7. Honda – 34

2023 FIM WMX Women’s Motocross World Championship calendar

 

Rd

Grand Prix Date
1 Sardegna (ITA) – Riola Sardo 25 – 26 Mar
2 Switzerland – Frauenfeld 8 – 10 Apr
3 Spain – intu Xanadú – Arroyomolinos 6 – 7 May
4 France – Villars sous Ecot 20 – 21 May
5 Netherlands – Arnhem 19 – 20 Aug
6 Turkey –  Afyonkarahisar 2 – 3 Sep

PHOTOS CREDIT: FULL SPECTRUM MEDIA  /  MONSTER ENERGY

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History-maker Duncan takes over all-time GP win record with double victories in France

22 May 2023

New Zealand’s Courtney Duncan has cemented herself in FIM World WMX Women’s Motocross Championship history, with double moto victories in France giving her the record for the most ever Grand Prix wins with 22.

Fittingly, her closest competitor over the weekend at the Villars sous Écot track was her long-time rival and 21 career GP winner Italy’s Kiara Fontanesi, whom Duncan has now moved ahead of by one.

Riding for Big Van World MTX Kawasaki, Duncan beat French round runner-up and six-time world champion Fontanesi in both races to take overall victory in France and extend her overall championship lead by 20 points.

 

“These French GP wins saw me take over the all-time GP wins in WMX and I’m definitely stoked on that. It was something I wanted to achieve coming into this weekend, so to tick that off is an incredibly good feeling,” Duncan says.

A three-time world champion, Duncan is in fine form this season with five moto wins from eight starts to her name. For the past two rounds, where she has won every race, it seems everything she touches turns to gold and even a crash in the first moto just fuelled her fire.

Twenty-seven-year-old Duncan was quickly through to second with a dramatic downhill double-pass halfway around the opening lap on the highly technical, heavy French track. As she closed in on the leader Fontanesi, she cross-rutted on a heavy landing and was thrown into the trackside earth-bank. Dunedin’s Duncan quickly reboarded her Kawasaki KX250 and re-joined the race in fifth place, before swiftly moving back into third.

The race leader was already 11 secs clear and the second placed rider Spain’s Daniela Guillen was 4 secs up the track – meaning Duncan had her work cut out for her. By lap four she had regained second position and on the eighth of eleven laps, having recorded a succession of fastest laps, she swept decisively around Fontanesi to move in front and eventually win by 27 secs.

Heading out to the second race on a high, Duncan did something unusual for her.

 

“In the second race, I took the holeshot which usually never happens. So, I think I was honestly more stoked on the holeshot than the eventual race win. I led from start to finish so can’t complain about that,” she says.

Her second moto victory for the weekend was achieved 7 secs ahead of Fontanesi.

As the WMX series takes a break until mid-August, Duncan heads home to New Zealand with an extremely solid 20-point-lead in the championship standings and the knowledge she more than has what it takes to bring back her fourth winner’s trophy at the season’s end in September.

“I think there’s multiple things that are working for me in 2023. It started off with our pre-season, where I had a really strong build-up in New Zealand.  We put a lot of hard work in there and it set me off on the right foot,” she says.

“My bike is also super good, especially the suspension, which I did a lot of testing with in NZ before I left.”

“I’m also another year wiser and it’s good to have a bit more speed. All in all, it’s been a really good start to the season.”

 

Duncan will spend around a month in New Zealand before heading to the Netherlands, where the penultimate fifth round will be held.

“The next race is in the sand, so I will do about a five or six-week boot camp there to get ready for that,” she says.

Kawasaki New Zealand’s Managing Director Shane Verhoeven says: “To say we’re proud of what Courtney has achieved this weekend is an understatement. Taking the WMX GP win record is no small feat when the competition gets fiercer every season.”

“The eye-test is showing the extra hours testing suspension in NZ is paying off and Courtney has shown that, when comfortable, she does not need good starts to win. Thankfully, her rare holeshot in moto 2 must have been very welcome.”

“We looked forward to seeing Courtney back in NZ for the season break and at the Kawasaki stand at Fieldays next month.”

Results:

WMX – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 11. Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), 26:40.276; 2. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GASGAS), +0:27.263; 3. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GASGAS), +0:35.187; 4. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Yamaha), +0:41.001; 5. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, Kawasaki), +0:44.094; 6. Lynn Valk (NED, Fantic), +0:47.843; 7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), +1:25.376; 8. Mathilde Martinez (FRA, GASGAS), +1:38.506; 9. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Yamaha), +1:45.255; 10. Martine Hughes (NOR, Husqvarna), +2:04.735

 

WMX – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), 25:33.282; 2. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GASGAS), +0:07.444; 3. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GASGAS), +0:09.403; 4. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, Kawasaki), +0:17.509; 5. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Yamaha), +0:31.275; 6. Lynn Valk (NED, Fantic), +0:37.028; 7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), +0:57.815; 8. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Yamaha), +1:07.731; 9. Danee Gelissen (NED, KTM), +1:18.948; 10. Mathea Seleboe (NOR, Yamaha), +1:21.736

 

WMX – Overall Top 10 Classification: 1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 50 points; 2. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 44 p.; 3. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 40 p.; 4. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, KAW), 34 p.; 5. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, YAM), 34 p.; 6. Lynn Valk (NED, FAN), 30 p.; 7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 28 p.; 8. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, YAM), 25 p.; 9. Mathilde Martinez (FRA, GAS), 22 p.; 10. Danee Gelissen (NED, KTM), 21 p

 

WMX – Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 185 points; 2. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 165 p.; 3. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, KAW), 150 p.; 4. Lynn Valk (NED, FAN), 128 p.; 5. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 127 p.; 6. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, YAM), 105 p.; 7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 103 p.; 8. Charli Cannon (AUS, YAM), 91 p.; 9. Britt Jans-Beken (NED, YAM), 84 p.; 10. Giorgia Blasigh (ITA, KTM), 73 p

 

WMX race weekend highlights  https://youtu.be/BOWOYSRJ8Mc

Moto one highlights https://youtu.be/bT3JunjHlwg

 

2023 FIM WMX Women’s Motocross World Championship calendar

 

Rd

Grand Prix Date
1 Sardegna (ITA) – Riola Sardo 25 – 26 Mar
2 Switzerland – Frauenfeld 8 – 10 Apr
3 Spain – intu Xanadú – Arroyomolinos 6 – 7 May
4 France – Villars sous Ecot 20 – 21 May
5 Netherlands – Arnhem 19 – 20 Aug
6 Turkey –  Afyonkarahisar 2 – 3 Sep

Credit: Words by Catherine Pattison

PHOTOS CREDIT: MONSTER ENERGY

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