Courtney Duncan gained perfect score of 1-1 at Women’s Motocross World Championship Opening Round at MXGP of Great Britain battling tough muddy track conditions against competitive line-up of world’s best Women riders.
In what could be described as weather the storm which swept through the GP paddock on Friday night, Duncan and full gate of WMX riders waited patiently for delayed start on Saturday, which combined Free and Qualifying Practice just before Race 1 at 4.30pm.
The 2019 defending WMX Champion found her winning form after making a pass on fallen lead rider Nancy Van de Ven in Lap 2, Race 1, then continued to maintain momentum in the tricky muddy track conditions which caught a number of top 5 contenders out on Saturday.
Danish rider Sara Andersen was unlucky to crash on finish line jump after making impressive start running up front with the early leaders. Same with Amandine Verstappen, who cut short any sights of podium finish, crashing in Race 1. The 2019 French Women MX Champion put all that behind her on Sunday, finishing 4th in Race 2.
If there was heart in mouth moment over the weekend it was for Dutch rider Nancy van de Ven. Such a great starter in both Races, and Qualifying pole, Nancy lost valuable time in couple of crashes in Race 1, only to redeem points tally finishing 3rd in Race 2, and 4th Overall.
Keeping all seasoned riders honest was Lynn Valk, who at 17 years of age made nice work of racing amongst the top 5 carving her own lines in the mud to come home in 3rd, Race 1. And ‘no pressure’ was the new code for Valk, who kept riders coming through field at bay, such as Italian Fontanesi in Race 2.
In what was complete turn around from Race 1 on Saturday to Sunday’s result, Larissa Papenemier proved the newly formed Yamaha Racing Team rider rises to all and any challenges placed in her way.
Having finished 4th in Race 1, Larissa turned the throttle skywards tracking her way to 2nd behind Courtney by Lap 4, Race 2. And Lare didn’t stop there. She kept the pressure on closing the gap to just 1 second behind Duncan, who must have surely felt this WMX 2020 season could very well be different from ‘019.
The debut return of Italian WMX 6x Champion Kiara Fontanesi was nothing short of amazing. I, along with many others would not thought it possible to race after a year off, having given birth to daughter Skyler in November and then train and line-up for WMX Opening Round 3 months later.
Well, Kiara proved to all, not just in the GP circuit, but to every Women athlete and passionate individual, that if you focus intently on reaching a goal, then success will come, eventually. Kiara not only made impressive drive through WMX field from 19th to 2nd in Race 1 but carried force to be reckoned with- finishing 6th in Race 2. Podium result- Yes! 3rd step!
Topping off great racing from great line-up of WMX riders was stand-out ride from American Jordan Jarvis. Having flown in from States where Jordan is competing in SX Futures Women class, #30 put ‘outside of comfort zone’ on display and raced what she descibed as ‘the toughest race of her life’.
Stuck and weighed down in muddy track conditions on Saturday, Jordan proved the 2018 AMA WMX Champion has the speed to stick it wth the best cutting split lap-times equal to the top 5 riders.
Out front, keeping out of trouble was Kiwi Courtney Duncan who grabbed the lead early on in Sunday’s Race 2 and held her gap to the chequered. Brave start for the defending WMX Champ- one which will no doubt be contested in WMX Rounds coming up.
WMX Round 2 MXGP of Netherlands, Valkenswaard, March 8th.
Words: Sharon Cox.
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