Our own motocross superstar

HEARTY congratulations are due right now to two of Otago’s motorsport’s highestprofile achievers, Courtney Duncan and Hayden Paddon.

Duncan confirmed her standing as a genuine superstar of the international motocross scene last weekend when she secured enough points at the final round of this year’s FIM Women's Motocross World Championship to retain her title.

Drama has never been far from Duncan’s championship career, and her performance at the series finale in Italy continued that theme. The East Otago rider headed to the event trailing Dutch rider Nancy Van De Ven in points and looked to have blown her championship hopes when she fell at the start of the first of the weekend’s two races.

Picking herself up from the dirt, and remounting her Kawasaki bike, Duncan was dead last, but fought back to snatch victory. A more measured tactical ride to third in the second race was enough to secure the 2020 crown, on a points countback from Van De Ven.

Over the course of the truncated 10race championship, Duncan picked up five wins to Van De Ven’s three, along with three further podium finishes.

When she returns home after completing her 14day quarantine, Duncan will be due a hero’s welcome at least equal to that she was accorded on winning her first world title in 2019.

Paddon, meantime, achieved a public milestone on Wednesday, with the unveiling of his competitionready Hyundai Kona EV rally car.

Charting the way to a cleaner, greener competition future will be a major focus of international rallying over the coming years, and it is amazing to think that absolutely cuttingedge development work in this field is taking place at Paddon’s small (in global terms) engineering facility at Highlands Motorsport Park near Cromwell.

I’d also like to acknowledge those within the Paddon Rallysport setup that have been working with him — Matt Barham (project manager and electrical engineer), Mike Pittams (lead technician), Rory Callaway (mechanical engineer), Ben Fretwell (technician), Ari Pettigrew (technician) and Matt Bowater (plant manager).