Courtney Duncan wins 2020 Women MX World Championship at Final Round at MXGP of Trentino making it back-to-back wins for the Kiwi under DRT Kawasaki. Duncan proved defending 2019 WMX Title was top of list over 5 Round Series finishing 1-3 at Pietramurata taking the Title Gold Plate for 2nd time.
Rising to ever increasing pressure from top women riders, Duncan displayed remarkable resilience to carve her way through the field after spill-over around hole-shot in Race 1. Passing riders up to 3rd by Lap 4, Duncan was in pursuit of Larissa Papenmeier who held nice gap out front from rest. Making most of unfortunate ‘hit neutral’ by Lare, Duncan led the charge over the finish line.
As expected, battles ensured behind, with Nancy Van de Ven and Kiara Fontanesi gaining ground from being caught up in hole-shot crash, with JK Racing Yamaha rider Lynn Valk making astounding pace to come in 3rd behind Duncan and Papenmeier.
Race 2 proved Nancy Van de Ven has quick-as-reactions at gate-drop with the Dutch rider rounding first corner ahead of field, then went on to lead from start to finish. Battles between Fontanesi and Duncan pushed the 6x WMX Champion to her best, making pass on Duncan stick to finish 2nd. Papenemeir and Lynn Valk finished R2 in top 5, with following riders: Shana Van der Vlist, Sara Andersen, Jamie Astudillo and Francesca Nocera rounding out top 9.
Points were tied on 207 between Courtney and Nancy. Count-back on number of wins proved above all else that each and every Round provides all-so-important points over course of 10 races in 5 Round Series. Courtney’s 5 wins made difference in Final result, with Nancy taking silver and Larissa bronze.
There is no doubt, the level of WMX racing has hit all time high. The Red Plate changed riders hands 4x in 5 Rounds: CD, Larissa, Nancy then back to Courtney. The back-to-back Round wins by Larissa proved how close these women are to claiming Title victory and there are young guns knocking at the door ready to pounce when mistakes are made.
Great race performance by Lynn Valk, who at 18 years has bright future ahead, and same for Sara Andersen whose composed raced technique belies that of seasoned riders. Impressive debut ride by American Jamie Astudillo who finished Final Round 8th Overall.
2020 WMX Championship has set-next-years bench-mark for the world’s best Motocross Women riders to compete at highest level in history- can’t wait!
Words: Sharon Cox.
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