A scorching 2017 FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship season is set to begin and the reigning world No.1, French rider Livia Lancelot, will no doubt feel the heat more than most with a huge target on her back.

Everyone expects it will be a hotly-contested season, with Italian Kiara Fontanesi, New Zealand’s Courtney Duncan and Dutch rider Nancy Van de Ven – all Grand Prix winners in 2016 – hunting the coveted top spot at the peak of women’s motorcycle racing.

Yamaha’s Duncan was, in fact, the rider with the most wins in the championships last season – she won five of 14 motos in the seven-round series – but an unlucky incident at the German GP proved to be her undoing.

Duncan crashed on a jump while leading at the German GP last May, the third round of the series, after clipping an errant photographer who was standing out on the track. The wrist injury she suffered forced her out of the following five races as she underwent surgery and then took more time off to recover.

Duncan is now looking forward to taking on Lancelot, among others, when the WMX kicks off in Indonesia on March 5.

Three of the past five WMX world championships have been decided at the final round with the speed and skills of the elite at the front of the Grand Prix pack evenly matched.

After suffering heartbreak in 2015, when Lancelot was unable to start the last race in the Czech Republic due to a technical problem as leader of the standings and subsequently lost the title to Fontanesi, the Frenchwomen fired back to bury those demons in 2016 and grasp her second crown.

From the confines of her own team and with backing of long-time partner Kawasaki, Lancelot – aged 29 and the eldest and most experienced of her peer sect – is primed for the challenge that will involve trips to Indonesia, Italy, France (twice), Czech Republic and Holland, to coincide with the corresponding MXGP events.

“I’m pretty happy because the winter went well with no injuries or anything crazy going on,” she said. “It has been quiet, and I’ve been able to get some good physical training done. Kawasaki also have a brand new KX250F which has meant a different frame and engine to work on and get used to. So we have spent many hours testing and working out information that we didn’t really have before. I tried my GP race bike only a few days ago and I’m really happy with what we have.”

Lancelot will face four-times WMX Champ Fontanesi (now back on Yamaha with whom she scooped all of her medals) and relative newcomer Duncan, who was the pace-setter since winning on her GP debut in Qatar last year and until her untimely injury and crash in Germany.

Van de Ven was Lancelot’s closest pursuer before ‘Livi’ put her name in the record books at the damp Dutch Grand Prix last summer.

“This season will be like a war! There are four girls who are going for that title and I think it will be amazing to watch,” Lancelot said. “I’m really excited but – honestly – I’m not stressed or nervous about the situation. I’m the oldest of the group and I have achieved what I wanted to with my career so anything else feels like a bonus.”

“I have worked so hard this winter – just as much, if not more, than any other season – but I don’t have the anxiety that I ‘need’ this title,” she continued. “I want to go out and have fun and race and I won’t be the one thinking ‘I must win this because I missed out before’.”

A relaxed Lancelot could be ominous for her rivals.

WMX cranks into life at round two of MXGP series, at the new circuit in Pangkal Pinang, and it will be the first GP visit to Indonesia this century.

Main photo courtesy Kawasaki Europe

© Duncan photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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