Motocross

Courtney Duncan goes 1-1 at Imola to extend FIM WMX Championship lead

Posted:

Monday, August 19th, 2019

9:43 AM

After a perfect weekend in Italy Courtney Duncan now has a solid points lead in the championship race with one round remaining.

The iconic Autodromo ‰Û÷Enzo and Dino Ferrari‰Ûª of Imola hosted the penultimate round of the FIM Women‰Ûªs Motocross World Championship where Bike It DRT Kawasaki‰Ûªs Courtney Duncan has gone 1-1 winning her third round of the season.

Second overall was Larissa Papenmeier with 2-2 scores and third No Fear Yamaha team‰Ûªs Nancy Van De Ven with 3-4 scores.

Now with just one round remaining in Turkey on September 7, Duncan holds a 23-point lead over Papenmeier with Van De Ven a further three points back in third place in the championship.

Series leader Duncan had a soft collision in the first corner of the opening Women‰Ûªs Motocross World Championship and a bunch of riders went down. With the carnage behind them, Van De Ven led from Duncan, but the New Zealander took the lead quickly.

Duncan then crashed and handed the lead back to Van De Ven. On a mission Duncan caught and passed Van Der Ven, but then the Dutch woman looked like she had trouble with her bike and was passed by Papenmeier. Duncan won it from Papenmeier and Van De Ven.

In the second Women‰Ûªs Motocross World Championship race it was Van De Ven who took the lead from Duncan, Papenmeier, Sara Anderson and Line Dame and Papenmeier was all over Duncan for second place.

Anderson started putting a lot of pressure on Duncan, and the Danish rider passed Duncan for third place and also looked for a way past Papenmeier.

Anderson moved past Papenmeier and Duncan slipped over and dropped back to fifth position. After two laps the lead was less than a second as Papenmeier repassed Anderson and Amandine Verstappen moved into fourth position. Anderson went down hard as she made a mistake on a landing and dropped back.

Papenmeier took the lead on lap three and Duncan passed Anderson at the same time. Top five after four laps was Papenmeier, Van De Ven, Verstappen, Duncan and Anderson. After five laps Duncan had done well to pull right up on the top three, with four seconds between Papenmeier in the lead Van De Ven, Verstappen and Duncan.

Larissa Papenmeier took second for the round and is Duncan's closest rival for the 2019 title.

Duncan, who was again the fastest girl on the track, moved into second on lap seven and was right onto Papenmeier. Duncan moved into the lead and was never headed again, Papenmeier finished second and Verstappen third.

‰ÛÏI am very happy this weekend, one of the hardest races for me," Duncan explained. "I struggled all weekend and to come away with two wins is really good, so I couldn‰Ûªt be happier. It wasn‰Ûªt an easy one that second race. I was riding cautious. I saw Papenmeier in front and I could catch up. I wish to thank everybody who is supporting me.‰Û

Nancy Van De Ven took third place for the round.

WMX - Race 1 Top Ten:

1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), 24:35.636
2. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Yamaha), +0:08.282
3. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, Yamaha), +0:23.695
4. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), +0:45.264
5. Lynn Valk (NED, Yamaha), +1:00.977
6. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Yamaha), +1:01.597
7. Shana van der Vlist (NED, KTM), +1:03.892
8. Sandra Karlsson (SWE, Kawasaki), +1:45.236
9. Francesca Nocera (ITA, Suzuki), +1:54.641
10. Britt Van Der Werff (NED, Husqvarna), +2:01.571

WMX - Race 2 Top Ten:
1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), 24:06.945
2. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Yamaha), +0:04.374
3. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Yamaha), +0:05.440
4. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, Yamaha), +0:15.358
5. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), +0:54.468
6. Shana van der Vlist (NED, KTM), +1:00.350
7. Lynn Valk (NED, Yamaha), +1:10.505
8. Emelie Dahl (SWE, Yamaha), +1:13.362
9. Line Dam (DEN, Honda), +1:25.579
10. Anne Borchers (GER, Suzuki), +1:33.503

WMX - Overall Top Ten:
1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 50 points
2. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, YAM), 44 points
3. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, YAM), 38 points
4. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, YAM), 35 points
5. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 34 points
6. Lynn Valk (NED, YAM), 30 points
7. Shana van der Vlist (NED, KTM), 29 points
8. Emelie Dahl (SWE, YAM), 23 points
9. Sandra Karlsson (SWE, KAW), 23 points
10. Britt Van Der Werff (NED, HUS), 20 points

WMX - Championship Top Ten:
1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 189 points
2. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, YAM), 166 points
3. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, YAM), 163 points
4. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, YAM), 135 points
5. Shana van der Vlist (NED, KTM), 122 points
6. Lynn Valk (NED, YAM), 120 points
7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 109 points
8. Anne Borchers (GER, SUZ), 82 points
9. Line Dam (DEN, HON), 81 points
10. Nicky van Wordragen (NED, YAM), 65 points