Duncan wary of sand trap in title defence
Courtney Duncan is aiming to ensure her bid for a third straight world motocross crown doesn’t get bogged down in the sand this weekend.
The 25-year-old Kiwi started her campaign with two comprehensive wins on a hard-packed track in the Czech Republic but this weekend’s racing on a deep sand track — not her favourite surface — in Belgium presents fresh challenges.
In the first race at Loket in the Czech Republic last weekend, Duncan flew away as the gate dropped to bounce into the lead, avoiding a first-corner melee and finishing a comprehensive 23 seconds ahead of Shana van der Vlist.
Duncan was initially pushed harder in race two, trailing Larissa Papenmeier before getting past her on the opening lap.
She then built enough of a lead that when she crashed with another rider, she had time to remount and still win.
“I put myself in a good position at the start and got the hole shot, which always helps,” Duncan told the Weekend Herald from Europe.
“To be fair, it wasn’t anything impressive and I could have been better. There are still things to be worked on, I’d say, and there were definitely things that could have been better. From a results point of view, I couldn’t be happier.”
However, this weekend’s races at GP FlandersBelgium at Lommel loom as more challenging due to the track make-up and in particular the surface.
Duncan’s racing is better suited to a hard-packed track but Lommel is a heavy sand track.
“The track is going to be a lot different. We go from a hard packed surface to deep sand. It’s one of the deepest sand tracks, if not the deepest, in the world.
“It’s going to be challenging in lots of ways, for sure. It’s something that excites me, as you’re wondering what you can do in the sand, and how well I’m going to perform.
“You have to change your riding style quite a lot — it’s chalk and cheese, really. You need to flow a lot more and have a different technique on the bike. You also need to have a different bike set-up to cope with the deep sand.
“It’s pretty much starting from scratch this weekend and it’ll be quite different from last weekend.
“To be a world champion, you have to make the best out of everything and perform to every condition.
“I’m more of a hard-packed surface rider, coming from New Zealand, and it’s a surface that suits me more.
“It’s been three years since I’ve been on sand like this, so it’s going to be challenging and I’ll have to step up. Hopefully we can make the best out of it.”
What’s even more impressive is that Duncan is on a new Kawasaki KX250 and hadn’t spent any time on the bike before last weekend.
Having had a decent hit-out at last weekend’s opening round, Duncan is looking forward to getting more out of her new bike.
“It’s the same model and we’re still on a 2021 KX250. There are a few changes on the bike, but to be fair, it’s relatively similar to the last one.
“It’s not like the change when I got the new bike last season. I feel comfortable on it, and since it was just the first race of the season, we can make a few adjustments to make it more comfortable.
“You learn as you go, and for the most part, it’s good. We’ll make a few slight changes for this weekend and then we have a bit of a gap before the third round to make any other changes.”
The world championship is contested over five rounds, with two races each round. The third round is in Turkey in September, followed by the fourth and fifth rounds in Spain and Italy in October.
Duncan was victorious in five of last year’s 10 races but needed a win countback to claim the world title after finishing level on points with Dutch rider Nancy van de Ven, who won three races.
Duncan claimed her first world title in 2019 with nine wins out of 10.
It’s been three years since I’ve been on sand like this, so it’s going to be challenging and I’ll have to step up. Courtney Duncan