Duncan keen to stay upright
PALMERSTON rider Courtney Duncan is keen to stay on her bike when round four of the Women’s Motocross World Championships get under way in the Czech Republic this weekend.
The 21yearold is in her second year on the circuit and has demonstrated how quick she can be when she stays upright.
The Yamaha rider has two wins and has nabbed two other podium finishes in six races this season.
She is in third place overall with 108 points but there is very little separating the top riders. Fourtime world champion Kiara Fontanesi leads the standings with 115 points from defending champion Livia Lancelot on 114, while Dutch rider Nancy van de Ven is in fourth place with 103 points.
Duncan, who led the standings after the opening round in Indonesia, could have more points had it not been for some bad luck. She crashed twice in the first race in France during round three of the series.
She got clipped by a rider but climbed back on her bike and fought her way back through the field before tumbling out in another crash.
Duncan is a gutsy competitor, though, and returned the next day to win the second race.
‘‘If I limit my mistakes, focus on riding my own laps and finish with a solid weekend, I’ll be more than happy,’’ Duncan told Fuseworks Media.
‘‘I’ve been getting some good quality training on all different track conditions, so that’s been great.’’
Duncan was on course to snap up the title during her rookie season. But a collision with a photographer who had wandered too close to the edge of the track ended her championship hopes.
With the 2017 series at the halfway point and so close, points picked up in the Czech Republic could prove vital.
The series moves to the Netherlands next and finishes in France in midSeptember.
Courtney’s mother, Linda Duncan, said her daughter had a fall while training for the event and was a little banged up but ‘‘focused and ready to go’’.