Women MX World Championship Round 2 at MXGP of Portugal proved settling ground for NZ’s Courtney Duncan, taking Race 1 win on the slick hard-pack track having claimed pole in Timed Practice earlier in the day.
Taking unexpected turn rounding the hole-shot Red Plate leader Amandine Verstappen tipped over the bars, making racing up-front difficult, then went down again, and came from 20th to finish in 10th place.
Maintaining consistent lines, Germany’s Larissa Papenmeier raced solid performance, cautious in pushing limit to close gap on Duncan completing the 20 minute plus 2 laps race in 2nd place.
Nancy van de Ven made it hard on herself, looking tight on the shifting dirt surface, having taken Race 2 win at Valkenswaard GP in March, change from sand obviously tested the Dutch racer coming in 3rd in R1.
Surprise stand-out was 16 year old Lynn Valk, racing with confidence behind seasoned WMX Rider Van de Ven, making use of creative line choice and not worrying about being ready to capitalize on any mis-hap up-front riders could make.
With only 1 point separtaing top 3: WMX Championship standings Duncan 64, Van de Ven 63, Papenmeier 62 – one incident can change WMX table quickly, as Verstappen has realised sitting on 55 points Overall for 4th.
And, young up-coming talent will be there, keen to challenge existing status-quo, making the coveted Women MX World Championshiop Series worthy of watching.
WMX Race 2: Sunday 11.30am Europe time.
Film edit: WMX Highlights Race 1 MXGP of Portugal 2019
Words: Sharon Cox.
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