New Zealand’s Courtney Duncan started her title defence solidly with a third placing in race one, but a first-corner collision in the second and deciding race on Sunday meant she finished her weekend in Italy an unaccustomed sixth overall.
First, second and third respectively for this opening round of the FIM World WMX Women’s Motocross Championships were Dutch riders Nancy Van De Ven and Lynn Valk, with Norwegian rider Martine Hughes finishing third overall, while Belgian rider Amandine Verstappen and Dutch woman Shana van der Vlist rounded out the top five ahead of Kiwi heroine Duncan.
Duncan had a tough weekend in her first race for four months on the Big Van World MTX Kawasaki.
The New Zealander, from Palmerston in Otago, rode a smart tight inside-line through the awkward opening turn to holeshot race one but was clearly riding a little tight just four days after flying in from the other side of the globe.
She surrendered the lead when she ran wide in a turn at the start of lap two and dropped to third mid-moto, but she regrouped strongly in the closing laps, narrowly failing to regain second by less than a third of a second.
The second race was even tougher as she fell after tangling with another rider entering the first turn and faced a long hard ride through the 35-rider strong field with her gloves and handlebars covered in mud.
Duncan was 26th at the end of the opening lap, but she was into the points-scoring positions before the end of the second lap and broke into the top 10 by half-distance, but the field was spread out by then with the next girl ahead of her 10 seconds clear.
However, she persisted to take over ninth three laps from the end and narrowly come short of eighth at the chequered flag.
Her efforts secured sixth overall; five rounds of the series remain for the defending champion to recoup her 15-point deficit to the points-leader.
“It was a difficult weekend to say the least; not how we wanted to start off but I didn’t arrive back in Europe until this week, had no time on the race bike and came in a little unprepared,” said Duncan.
“Yesterday was solid, in the circumstances; I was just a little rusty. Today was an upward battle after the crash at turn one. But it is how it is. We’ve got this weekend over and done with; now we go back to the UK and get stuck in with the team to prepare for round two next months.”
The next round of the WMX series is at Agueda in Portugal on April 2 & 3.
Photo courtesy Stanley Leroux
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RESULTS & STANDINGS:
WMX – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
- Lynn Valk (NED, Yamaha), 25:10.327; 2. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, Yamaha), +0:06.374; 3. Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), +0:06.658; 4. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:34.221; 5. Martine Hughes (NOR, Honda), +0:37.406; 6. Shana van der Vlist (NED, KTM), +1:02.150; 7. Giorgia Blasigh (ITA, Yamaha), +1:20.566; 8. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), +1:22.264; 9. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), +1:24.444; 10. Anne Borchers (GER, Suzuki), +1:28.519.
WMX – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
- Nancy Van De Ven (NED, Yamaha), 25:38.399; 2. Lynn Valk (NED, Yamaha), +0:07.896; 3. Martine Hughes (NOR, Honda), +0:13.879; 4. Shana van der Vlist (NED, KTM), +0:17.672; 5. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:30.600; 6. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Yamaha), +0:35.046; 7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), +0:51.401; 8. Elisa Galvagno (ITA, Husqvarna), +0:56.345; 9. Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), +1:01.276; 10. Mathea Seleboe (NOR, Yamaha), +1:17.014.
WMX – Championship Top 10 Classification:
- Nancy Van De Ven (NED, YAM), 47 points; 2. Lynn Valk (NED, YAM), 47 p.; 3. Martine Hughes (NOR, HON), 36 p.; 4. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, KAW), 34 p.; 5. Shana van der Vlist (NED, KTM), 33 p.; 6. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 32 p.; 7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 26 p.; 8. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, YAM), 25 p.; 9. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), 23 p.; 10. Giorgia Blasigh (ITA, YAM), 21 p.
2022 Women’s Motocross World Championship calendar:
Round 1: March 5-6, MXGP of Lombardia, Mantova, Italy.
Round 2: April 2-3, MXGP of Portugal, Agueda.
Round 3: May 14-15, MXGP of Sardegna, Riola Sardo, Sardinia.
Round 4: May 28-29, MXGP of Spain, intu Xanadú.
Round 5: August 20-21, MXGP of Charente Maritime, St Jean d’Angely, France.
Round 6: September 3-4, MXGP of Turkey, Afyonkarahisar.