A determined recovery ride has helped New Zealand’s three-time world champion, Courtney Duncan, achieve a solid start to the 2023 FIM Women’s World Motocross Championship (WMX), with a podium finish in the opening round of the season at the Sardegna Grand Prix (Italy).
Race 1 saw the Kiwi fall to the back of the pack after getting caught up in the mad scramble to the opening corner of the year, before storming back through the field to finish third behind fellow Kawasaki rider and Dutch rookie Lotte Van Drunen, with Spaniard Daniela Guillen finishing second.
Current world champion Nancy van de Ven was another to strike trouble when she went down at the first corner, resulting in a DNF.
Race 2 saw Guillen become the first Spanish rider to win a race and a round of the Women’s World Motocross Championship, beating home van de Ven, Van Drunen, with Duncan in fourth.
Duncan’s combined race results for the weekend, on the deep sand, her least preferred surface, saw her claim third place in the Sardegna Grand Prix behind Guillen and Van Drunen.
“I’m pretty proud of my performance this weekend, being on the podium with two solid results in the sand. We know sand isn’t my forte so coming away with 4-3 motos and a podium is like a win.
Courtney Duncan – Post Race 2
I just didn’t have my rhythm at the start of the second race this morning but we caught up and finished fourth on the penultimate lap. It’s a solid start to the season that put us in a good position for Switzerland in two weeks’ time.”
The first two races of the season have seen the arrival of a crop of young riders, with Van Drunen, who is just 15, and 16-year-old Guillen, backing up their world championship claims, starting the season at the top of the points table.
Round 2 of the WMX championship is the Grand Prix of Switzerland which kicks off on April 10/11.
WMX points standings after one round:
Daniela Guillen Spain 47
Lotte Van Drunen Netherlands 45
Courtney Duncan New Zealand 39
Britt Jans-Beken Netherlands 30
Shana van der Vlist Netherlands 29
Feature image thanks to Monster Energy
