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First Moto Win of 2023 for Courtney Duncan in Switzerland
Courtney Duncan and Big Van World MTX Kawasaki scorched to their first moto win of the FIM World WMX Women’s Motocross Championship campaign in the opening moto of round two at Frauenfeld in Switzerland.
Lap times were incredibly close in timed training, just fractions of a second separating the first four, to raise promise of exciting racing and so it proved. The short 60-meter start-straight and wide sweeping first turn saw the New Zealander in the top-six and she was content to stay sixth through the opening lap as light drizzle made conditions extremely slippery. Within two laps she had advanced to third and, through sheer speed and clever line-choice, she closed rapidly on the two leaders. She swept into second with an outside-pass on lap four but then followed a couple of hectic laps amongst lappers as she dueled for the lead. Once in front she again showed her outstanding pace, moving clear at several seconds a lap to put the result beyond doubt before they hit more backmarkers, eventually winning by 18 seconds with the fastest lap of the race. Kawasaki now leads the Manufacturers' Championship while the Kiwi is now just four points shy of the individual series points-leader; a repeat in race two on Monday could see her take over the championship lead.
Courtney Duncan: "This place is very much like some of the tracks I race back home and had my name on it. I only had fourth place in quali but times were so close and there was no need to stress - racing is my game and I caught them quickly from a sixth-placed start. I'm just stoked to be back with another moto win, but the job's not done yet."
Lotte van Drunen made it two Kawasaki’s in the top four in practice and ran fifth in racing until a slip on the greasy surface pushed her back temporarily to seventh before a solid recovery pulled her back to her eventual fifth place through the final three laps. The 15-year-old Dutch girl is also right in contention in the championship, just two points behind Duncan.