The second round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship has ended in Frauenfeld, in Switzerland, with Big Van World MTX Kawasaki’s Courtney Duncan taking the victory.
This was a tough battle across the board and spanned over Saturday and Monday where riders gave their best to get to the top while also having had to fight against a downpour on Saturday making the track a bit heavier.
In the first race on Saturday, the first lap was eventful as MX Fonta Racing’s Kiara Fontanesi quickly took the lead after the first turns to see RFME GasGas WMX Team’s Daniela Guillen all over a rear wheel making a move early to take the lead off Fontanesi.
The two riders were followed by JK Racing Yamaha Charli Cannon and Courtney Duncan, third and fourth respectively after lap one.
Still in the first lap we saw Nancy Van De Ven of Ceres 71 Racing remake the same mistake as in Sardinia as she crashed quickly and could not restart, missing on good points.
Duncan passed Cannon on lap two as the Kiwi looked really quick on her bike and caught the front two Guillen and Fontanesi. Cannon kept her 4th position until the end.
The front three created a gap with the rest of the pack as a three-way battle went on between lap two and five. Fontanesi eventually took the lead as she passed Guillen on lap four, while Duncan, in third position at the time, tirelessly put pressure on Guillen. Guillen could not contain Duncan’s speed on lap five and moved down to third.
It was then all about Duncan piling pressure on Fontanesi who bravely resisted for two laps but Duncan was too quick and finally passed Fontanesi on lap seven and kept the lead until the end. Fontanesi finished second and Guillen settled for third.
Getting into fifth place after lap one, Lotte Van Drunen had to battle to keep this position as she moved down to seventh on lap four but fought her way back up, as she overtook Sara Andersen on lap eight and Fantic Maddii Factory Racing’s Lynn Valk with two laps to go on lap 10, showing her great technique to settle for fifth in the end.
Valk had a good run oscillating between seventh and fifth throughout the whole race to finish in sixth position while Andersen rode a similar race and finished seventh.
Britt Jans-Beken and Larissa Papenmeier, eighth and ninth respectively after lap one, followed each other until Papenmeier managed to pass Jans-Beken on lap seven to finish eighth while Jans-Beken settled in ninth.
On Easter Monday, the race two started with Van Drunen taking the lead in front Van de Ven and Duncan.
Van Drunen never got troubled upfront as she increased the gap all way through the second race.
Van de Ven second for the first two laps could not contain Duncan on lap three. Van de Ven kept her good pace and tried to make a charge on Duncan on the last lap but Duncan held on to finish second and Van de Ven third.
Behind them Guillen did not start as she wanted and found herself 6th behind Valk.
A wonderful and tough battle ensued over seven laps with Valk resisting every attack from the Spanish rider. At the end of an intense fight Guillen managed to pass but Valk responded directly to get back to 5th.
However, on lap seven Guillen made good another move and this time made her pass stick to get to fifth. Valk kept her sixth place until the end.
Guillen continued with determination as she breathed pass Fontanesi on lap eight, and she finished fourth in the end. Fontanesi was fourth for the first seven laps and with Guillen overtaking her on lap eight she remained at a good fifth place.
Andersen had a strong race throughout as she never got overtaken and kept her seventh place from start to finish.
Australian Charli Cannon rode a good pace too as she went ninth in the first three laps and capitalised on Papenmeier’s mistake (8th at the time) on lap four, to go up to eighth along with Giorgia Blasigh who followed Cannon over the whole race to finish at a good ninth place.
Papenmeier fought back after her mistake and went from 13th to 10th overtaking along the way, Danee Gelissen (12th in the end), Shana Van der Vlist (17th in the end) and Jans-Beken (11th in the end) with two laps to go to finish 10th.
In the end, Courtney Duncan was on the top of the podium in front of Lotte Van Drunen in second place and Daniela Guillen third. The second round of the WMX in Switzerland has been very competitive and Duncan showed her quick pace winning her first GP of the season while Van Drunen delivered another strong performance as she takes the leader’s red plate as she tops the championship standings.
“It was a pretty good round! The track was deep and I put myself in a very good position from the start. It feels amazing going forward into the Championship,” said Duncan afterwards.
Photo courtesy Kawasaki
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RESULTS & STANDINGS:
WMX – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), 24:10.055; 2. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GASGAS), +0:18.530; 3. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GASGAS), +0:32.373; 4. Charli Cannon (AUS, Yamaha), +0:39.418; 5. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, Kawasaki), +0:41.450; 6. Lynn Valk (NED, Fantic), +0:53.977; 7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), +1:04.870; 8. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Yamaha), +1:11.407; 9. Britt Jans-Beken (NED, KTM), +1:38.530; 10. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Yamaha), +1:39.096;
WMX – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, Kawasaki), 24:28.136; 2. Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), +0:09.115; 3. Nancy van de Ven (NED, Yamaha), +0:10.011; 4. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GASGAS), +0:30.292; 5. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GASGAS), +0:33.282; 6. Lynn Valk (NED, Fantic), +0:36.647; 7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), +0:51.825; 8. Charli Cannon (AUS, Yamaha), +0:53.521; 9. Giorgia Blasigh (ITA, KTM), +1:08.408; 10. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Yamaha), +1:24.599
WMX – Overall Top 10 Classification:
1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 47 points; 2. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, KAW), 41 p.; 3. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 38 p.; 4. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 38 p.; 5. Charli Cannon (AUS, YAM), 31 p.; 6. Lynn Valk (NED, FAN), 30 p.; 7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 28 p.; 8. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, YAM), 24 p.; 9. Giorgia Blasigh (ITA, KTM), 22 p.; 10. Britt Jans-Beken (NED, KTM), 22 p.;
WMX – Championship Top 10 Classification:
1. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, KAW), 86 points; 2. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 85 p.; 3. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 85 p.; 4. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 61 p.; 5. Charli Cannon (AUS, YAM), 58 p.; 6. Lynn Valk (NED, FAN), 58 p.; 7. Britt Jans-Beken (NED, KTM), 52 p.; 8. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 50 p.; 9. Nancy van de Ven (NED, YAM), 42 p.; 10. Giorgia Blasigh (ITA, KTM), 42 p.