Kiwi heroine has resolve to push on
She has been the fastest woman on the planet for the past three years, but, sadly, Courtney Duncan has no trophy to prove it. Thankfully, what the world class Otago motocross racer does have is a lot of impressive results and the respect and admiration of her rivals.
The 22-year-old from Palmerston, near Dunedin, is perhaps the unluckiest of all Kiwi sporting heroes — she was last week ruled out for the rest of the 2018 motocross world championship season, forced to withdraw injured while leading the series.
She had been perhaps just four races away from winning the Women’s Motocross World Championships (WMX) title this season — with just two races at each of the two remaining rounds, in The Netherlands and in Italy, to wrap up her 2018 campaign — but those hopes and plans have now been shredded.
Duncan had taken her Altherm JCR Yamaha YZ250F bike to twice finish runner-up at the fourth round of six in the 2018 world series at Ottobiano, in the Lombardia region of Italy, in June, helping her to build a massive 21-point lead over her two main rivals, fellow Yamaha riders Kiara Fontanesi and Nancy van de Ven.
The tough-as-nails Kiwi, who will possibly never enjoy the advantage of racing a WMX event on her home turf, had defied the odds to be in that enviable position, but an injury to a bone in her right foot and then further damage to the ligaments that surround it have forced her to withdraw from this year’s title chase.
“I don’t think there’s a word to describe how I’m feeling,” said Duncan.
“It breaks my heart to know I won’t be able to line up and go for the world title. It will take a bit to get over this but I’ll get through it. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again.
“I have to think of the bigger picture. I am only young and I’ve got championships to deliver in the future.”
This will be the third consecutive season Duncan has been cruelly denied success.
She finished third overall last year after a contentious jury decision denied her the title when the second race was stopped at the final round in France, while she was leading it. Duncan had also been leading the series during her WMX debut season in 2016, but was forced to the sideline with injury when she crashed into an errant photographer, who had been standing on the race track at the German GP. Although at that stage the new kid on the block, Duncan stamped her authority on the competition and won five of the 14 races in 2016, more than any other individual that year, — and this was even after her “runin” with the photographer.
Her racing team manager, Motueka’s former Grand Prix motocross star Josh Coppins, speaking from Belgium, said he was “very disappointed . . . it is a very bitter pill for her to swallow” after being so close to winning for three years in a row.
“She had managed her championship campaign so well this year and had almost an entire race in hand over her rivals. This news will be seen as a gift by her competitors.
“This is the nature of our sport, but Courtney is naturally devastated,” said Coppins.
“She had injured her right foot at an international event in France in July . . . not a GP race . . . and the initial diagnosis was that the injury wasn’t too severe. She came home to New Zealand to rest and recover between GPs.
“Then she re-injured her foot 10 days ago and had another check-up and discovered it was worse.
“She needs to rest her foot now to allow it to heal properly. It could affect her for the rest of her life if she damages it further.
“Though we may now be looking ahead to 2019, we first have to put this behind us and get over it. We need to make sure she does not risk any further damage to her foot, that she can heal and ensure she will be able to compete again next year and finally bring home this world title.”